When I started hearing about this plant thing, darling, the first thing to cross my mind was a film I had not seen in years--"Werewolf Of London." The real villain of that film was not Henry Hull as Dr. Glendon, but Warner Oland as Dr. Yogami. The two were searching for the Mariphasa, believed to cure lycanthropy--at least when used--and Yogami, as a werewolf, fought Glendon for it, biting him in the process, afflicting him with the same curse, with tragic results.
This is the first time a werewolf is seen in the film. But it is not Henry Hull. It is Warner Oland in the film's only shot of him as a werewolf.
The Corpse Flower--my God, you'd think people were waiting for some miracle, like Lo
But, what scientific properties does it contain? Could it be helpful. I can see budding Dr. Glendons and Yogamis fighting over this one.
If only I had taken Advanced Placement Biology!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To me, the most fascinating thing about this plant is its life cycle. Despite its exoticism, it is basically a non-descript bush that just sits on the ground looking dull for the first ten years, then suddenly generates this enormous phallic flower pod straight out of "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers". It only blooms for a day and a half, which makes the herculean effort of growing that huge bloom seem rather pointless. I suppose the idea is to attract flies from 40 miles around with the stench, so those flies will pollinate other corpse flowers and perhaps create thousands of seeds at once. Even that doesn't quite add up, though: I seem to remember reading that the thing is lucky if it generates even ONE other plant from all that work. Then it goes back to sleep, unless it lives another ten years in which case it will try again.
ReplyDeleteThe more you see of Mother Nature, the more you get the impression she was high on something during most of creation.
ReplyDeleteI am certain she was!