Arum palaestinum

Visiting the University of Bristol Botanic Garden this morning to collect some trees, I was shown around by the Curator, Nick Wray. The garden has only been on this site since 2005 and development is an ongoing process, though much has happened since I was last there a couple of years ago and many parts of the garden are now looking well established. On the bank featuring Mediterranean plants I was astonished and delighted to see a fine clump of Arum palaestinum, the blackest of all the dark-spathed arums, in full flower. I have never grown this species, believing it to be tender, but the clumps at Bristol suggest otherwise, looking very well after this hard winter (-8 deg. C was recorded in the garden there this winter).

I had to have a sniff to find out how bad the smell is - it's not good, sort of shitty rotten fruit, but I have smelt worse.