一种巨型鲜花（巨型海芋）发出一股奇怪的腐尸气味，目的就是为了吸引一些食肉性昆虫前来帮它传授花粉。那么它们是如何做到这一点的呢？德国波恩大学的科学家无意中拍下的电视录像揭示了这一秘密。
拍摄录像的德国波恩大学的威廉·巴斯洛特说：“影片摄制组使用非常强大的背景光拍摄，我们突然看到一股烟从此花的中心柱上升起。我们认为此花着火了。”然而，这一缕缕极有规律的烟突然间变成了蒸气，携带一股腐尸气味扑面而来。
科学家感到纳闷：为何此花一会儿像死驴子一样难闻，一会儿几乎就没有什么味道了。
在这一景象的启发下，巴斯洛特和他的小组假设此腐尸味鲜花利用热量将热臭气抽到了夜空中。于是，他们用红外摄像机拍下了三朵巨型海芋的影像，果然发现一股股热量沿花而上，到达花尖时温度高达36摄氏度，以便让蒸汽释放出来。那么它为什么不把蒸汽一次性释放出来呢？这是因为它在释放蒸汽的同时需要把体内的大部分能量蓄积起来为喷射做准备，而这种喷射和它高生长都需要巨大能耗，这正好可以解释此花为何只能开两个晚上。但两个晚上有足够时间来吸引昆虫。此研究发现发表在最新出版的《植物生物学》（Plant Biology）杂志上。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Plant Biology DOI：0.1111/j.1438-8677.2008.00147.x
A torch in the rain forest: thermogenesis of the Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum)
W. Barthlott 1,4 , J. Szarzynski 2,3 , P. Vlek 3 , W. Lobin 4 & N. Korotkova 1
1 Nees Institute for Biodiversity of Plants, Bonn, Germany
2 UN-SPIDER Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)/German Aerospace Center (DLR) UN Campus, Bonn, Germany
3 Center for Development Research (ZEF), Division of Ecology and Natural Resources, Bonn, Germany
4 Botanical Gardens of the University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Correspondence to W. Barthlott, Nees Institute for Biodiversity of Plants, Meckenheimer Allee 170, 53115 Bonn, Germany.
An outstanding flagship species in the plant kingdom is the Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), which produces a fountain-like bloom up to 3 m high. The unique appearance of three simultaneous inflorescences in May 2006 was a chance to analyse the flowering behaviour and thermogenesis of this giant. For the first time, the heating of the central column (spadix) could be documented using a high-performance thermographic camera. Time series analyses of the infrared image sequences revealed that the 3-m high spadix surface heats up in pulses emanating from the base of the inflorescence. The surface temperature reaches over 36 °C, compared to the ambient temperature of 27 °C. Waves of the carrion-like odour are synchronised with these heat pulses. The combination of heat pulses, the fountain-like shape plus the enormous size lead to a unique type of 'convection flower'. On the basis of our observations, we assume that Amorphophallus titanum is able to overcome thermodynamic decoupling by a self-produced convective process.
