The resting stage of Amorphophallus [a more fof' a lus] is a tuber, a short, thick, subterranean stem that is a storage organ for starches or other photosynthates. The tuber has an "eye", a dormant bud on its upper surface.

In early spring before the rainy season, the mature tuber sends up an inflorescence. Amorphophallus flowers are not much. They are greatly reduced with pistillate (female) flowers crowded at the bottom of the spadix, staminate (male) above, and staminodes (modified sterile male flowers) scattered about the stem. But the inflorescence is huge and dramatic! A colorful spathe (a modified leaf) subtends the spadix and surrounds the spike like a cowl.

The konjac's inflorescence grows up to 2 meters (6 feet) in height and is dark red. For all the beauty of the inflorescence, it is not something to put in an arrangement or have indoors. It smells—a dead animal, eye-watering, dry-heaves aroma. But as soon as the flowers are pollinated, the 'fragrance' disappears.

After flowering and in immature tubers, Amorphophallus grows a single leaf. Before it grows the leaf, though, it produces long horizontal roots that grow from the top of the tuber. When the roots are fully grown, they begin contracting. They anchor the tuber firmly in the soil. Then something remarkable happens. The tuber shrinks to the point of almost disappearing. The starches and photosynthates go into the expanding leaf.

The vanishing tuber presents a problem. A hole is left in the soil under the large leaf. That is where the contractile roots* come into play. They keep the leaf upright.

Once the leaf is photosynthesizing lots of starches, the tuber regrows. If the growing season is warm and rainy, the tuber will have more starches and sugars and will be larger than it was in the previous spring. The leaf will dry off in the autumn and the tuber goes dormant until the next spring.

Wilbert Hetterscheid and Martin Neitz have numerous photographs of konjac inflorescences and a tuber posted on the website of the International Aroid Society. To view these great photographs, click on the link: http://aroid.org/genera/amorphophallus/konjac/

(Compiled from: Hortus Third, Staff L.H. Bailey Hortorium, NY State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Macmillan, NY, 1976; A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, C. Brickell and J.D. Zuk, eds., American Horticultural Society, DK Publishing, NY, 1997; "The Genus Amorphophallus", Wilbert Hetterscheid and S. Ittenbach, International Aroid Society, articles adapted from "Everything you always wanted to know about Amorphophallus, but were afraid to stick your nose into!!!!!", Aroideana 19:7-131.)

*The contractile roots are amazing. The photographed clump of konjacs was blown down and beaten by heavy rains when Hurricane Katrina passed St. Petersburg. The leaves righted themselves within days. The photo was taken 7 days after the storm brushed by.