Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
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Voodoo Lily
​
(sauromatum venosum)

For spooky October we are featuring one of our plants with a spooky name. It is called the Voodoo Lily. Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo is home to many animals but we are also very involved in cultivating plants from our animals’ wild habitat. You can see some of these plants with the animals in their habitats or you can see them in our Victorian Greenhouse. Many of the plants are endangered just like the animals
Picture
Description: This plant is known mostly as an ornamental plant despite the fact that is can emit a terrible odor that is similar to the smell of rotting meat. Its leaves are large, green and tropical in appearance.

The Voodoo Lily has a globe-shaped bulb with a diameter of 3 to 6 inches that can produce numerous annual offshoots. It can grow to a height of up to 30 inches from its underground corm to its top. The corm is a rounded, thick underground stem base bearing membranous or scaly leaves and buds and acting as a vegetative reproductive structure. It is somewhat like a plant bulb.

​When flowering, this striking plant unfolds its large sheathing bract, or spathe, which is a rich purplish brown with yellow specks, It folds back revealing a prominent black spike, or spadix, of minute flowers closely arranged around a fleshy axis. The flowers emerge from the floral stem before the leaves. The flowers are a purplish-brown-spotted, with yellowish specks. 
The reason why it is called the Voodoo Lily is because it has the ability to flower from a corm without any soil or water.

Range: Native to upland temperate and tropical areas of Africa and Asia

Habitat:  Primarily found in evergreen forests and meadows by rivers

Family Life: This plant is fly-pollinated so the scent of rotting meat is vital to the plant’s propagation. After flowering, large clumps of dark purple seeds form, held aloft above the ground.

Life Span:  Varies greatly based on habitat.

Status:  Stable
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​203-394-6565
​info@beardsleyzoo.org 
1875 Noble Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06610
Open 9am-4pm daily
​Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo is dedicated to acquainting a diverse public to the delicate balance that exists between living things and their environment.

Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo is a 501(c)(3) not for profit owned and operated by the Connecticut Zoological Society.

2019 Kids Out and About #1
Association of Zoos & Aquariums
Connecticut - Still Revolutionary
Weekly Best of Fairfield County Readers' Poll 2014
FC Buzz Events - Arts & Culture of Fairfield County
© 2022 Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
  • Home
  • About
    • Blog
    • Contact Us
    • Jobs
    • Press
  • Guest Info
    • Accessibility
    • Calendar
    • COVID Guidelines
    • For Kids >
      • Coloring Pages
      • Zoo Patrol
      • Zoo Tots
    • Our Animals >
      • Eastern Rat Snake
    • Our Plants
    • Parents
    • Zoo Cams >
      • Outdoor Red Panda Cam
      • Indoor Red Panda Cam
      • Outdoor Spider Monkey Cam
      • Indoor Spider Monkey Cam
      • Otter Cam
    • Zoo Etiquette
    • Zoo Map
  • Membership
  • Education
    • Citizen Science >
      • FrogWatch
      • MonarchWatch
    • Conservation >
      • City Nature Challenge
      • Conservation Pledge
    • Cool Blue >
      • Cool Blue Schools
    • Programs
    • Educational Resources
    • Evening Lectures
    • Field Trips
    • Just 4 Teens >
      • CDC
      • Explorers
    • Teachers
  • Support
    • Animal Sponsorship
    • Appeal
    • Corporate Support
    • Donate
    • Events
    • Gift Guide
    • Honor & Remember
    • Monthly Giving
    • Naming Opportunities
    • Wish List
  • Parties, Rentals & Weddings
    • Birthdays
    • Private Events
    • Weddings
    • Rates and Details
    • Preferred Vendors
    • Preferred Wedding Vendors
    • Event Guidelines
  • Volunteer
    • Interns
  • En Espanol
  • Buy Tickets