I have only just recovered from all the goodies we were able to see during SciBlog (Darwin’s fish and Linnaeus’ herbarium ) and I have already had another week full of museum specials here in Belgium.

First, I had the opportunity to visit the cellars of the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren, twice! It features a huge collection of trophies (most of them collected around 1913) as well as a wide selection of skulls, skeletons and skins. There is even a giraffe down there and nobody knows how it actually got in (it can’t get out). The cellars also used to house a large alcohol collection (especially fish) but these have been moved for obvious security reasons.

The other special this week was Hercule, at the National Botanic Garden of Belgium, the second Titan arum ever flowering in Belgium (the first one, Jean-Paul, just flowered a few weeks ago). The Titan (Amorphophallus titanum or ‘misshapen giant penis’) is the largest tallest flower inflorescence in the world.

I wonder what this week will bring (except for a horrendous Christmas countdown jingle on the local radio).

Trophy room in the Royal Museum of Central Africa, Tervuren

Amorphophallus titanum in the National Botanic Garden of Belgium (H=1.90m; note the seedling at the bottom)

More images on Be.Science (Flickr set).

Trophy room in the Royal Museum of Central Africa, Tervuren