Visiting Mt.Chaishan

Today I decided to visit Mt.Chaishan for climbing. At early periods, the place was controlled by the military, not open for common people. Because of this reason, the environment in Mt.Chaishan was protected well. Since 1989, it's opened gradually. Nearby the business district, Kaohsiung city, therefore it has became a popular leisure area. Although I said I went for mountain-climbing, actually it's not real climbing. I was just along the footpaths which is easy for walking, don't need to grip rock or branches of trees for keeping upward.
There are two Amorphophallus species in Mt.Chaishan: A.henryi and A.hirtus. I saw A.henryi here before, but forgot to take pictures. This time I tried to find them again, but I would look for A.hirtus particularly. A.hirtus is famous for its tall spadix, and the record of its tallest inflorescence in Mt.Chaishan was 284cm. It's not easy to see such tall flower every year, but it's over 170cm ordinarily. This species usually blooms in June after plum rains, which means a kind of seasonal raining. The root tuber of A.hirtus would be stimulated by the plum rains, and start to grow its spadix, or leaf only. According to the informations from some internet pages, the same tuber blooms per 5 years. And hardly to see its berry in the wild, some botanists infer it can't be inseminated by its own pollens, and need another plant to achieve pollination. When blooming, some people don't like its stinking smell, and may hit the spadix. Luckily, I found some A.hirtus just nearby the major footpath, I guess the population isn't very small and rare here. This may be because A.hirtus could increase the quantities in the population by asexual reproduction. I saw a A.hirtus with big leaf and where are many young ones nearby it, like mother and babies. I'm not sure those babies were produced by seeds or asexual reproduction. But if this species really need another plant which is with genetic variation to achieve pollination, it's still dangerous to survive because the environment varies and seems worse now. By the way, I don't find A.henryi because I was tired and back reversely. I'm sure there are A.henryi in somewhere. I will take pictures of their flowers when in May and June next year.