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Nature & Environment

Crowds queue up to see Corpse Flower bloom

By T.K. Randall
December 29, 2015 · Comment icon 5 comments

The Corpse Flower smells notoriously terrible. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 4.0 Richard J. Rehman
A particularly unusual and foul-smelling flower is known to bloom only once every 1,000 days.
Native only to the rainforests of Sumatra, Amorphophallus titanum is something of a botanical oddity due to its sporadic flowering behavior and its extremely strong smell of rotting flesh.

Known as the 'Corpse Flower', the plant has proven to be a popular attraction at the Mount Lofty Botanic Garden near Adelaide where visitors have been queuing up to see the six-foot plant in bloom - something that occurs only once every three years and lasts only a matter of hours.

One of the staff, Matt Coulter, described the stench as being like that of a "dead animal".
"When I opened the glasshouse this morning it almost blew me away it is so strong," he said.

"I almost had to stop myself from throwing up it was so bad. Until you have actually experienced it, it is the first time I've actually smelt it; it's like nothing else."

One visitor described the smell as "like a rubbish bin" while others thought it smelled like "cooked broccoli that had gone off in the fridge" and even "a smelly bag of rotten fish."

Timelapse footage showing the flower coming into bloom can be viewed below.



Source: Telegraph | Comments (5)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by Sundew 8 years ago
I am familiar with these and have even grown them, they are a bit on the tricky side required warmth and a lot of room. And yes, they do smell pretty awful in flower, but the odor is short lived as is the bloom. It's a huge outlay of energy for the plant's tuber to produce this huge spathe and spadix and it only does this ever 5 years or so in well cultivated plants.
Comment icon #2 Posted by bubblykiss 8 years ago
Knowing what I do about the smell, I will stick to the videos. Where I can enjoy the enchanting majesty of nature without the putrid scent.
Comment icon #3 Posted by coolguy 8 years ago
Very cool, I would like to see Thai huge flower some day
Comment icon #4 Posted by MissJatti 8 years ago
Very cool, I would like to see Thai huge flower some day You mean smell thai huge flower
Comment icon #5 Posted by scottgoh 8 years ago
love it; been there.


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