Christchurch
Stinky flowers catch Mary Lovell-Smith’s attention.
The corpse flower ( Amorphophallus titanum) was blooming in Auckland and Christchurch public gardens over the Christmas holidays, while we smelt cat poo even though we don’t have a cat, and our terrier wouldn’t let one within metres of our property.
After much sniffing, we traced the scent to the vase of freshly picked sea holly ( Eryngium planum) on the table.
Having grown the crop from seed, I wasn’t in a hurry to ditch the first pickings of this pretty and unusual perennial. Not only are the cone-shaped flower and the small thistle-like bracts surrounding it a deep amethyst hue, so too are the fine woody stems. Despatching it to a far – and airy – corner solved the immediate problem, and after a few days the smell disappeared.
None of my gardening books mention this problem, but several internet forums discuss it, and the solution apparently lies in washing off the pollen – the source of the smell – after picking, or to pick the flowers before the pollen comes.
Eryngium isn’t alone amongst more commonplace plants in having odour issues. Fritillaria imperialis, the crown imperial, is named for its magnificent orange blooms that appear in whorls on top of each other. Despite its name, the adjectives used to describe the smell which is given off by every part of the plant, from the bulbs to the blooms, are far from majestic. Try foxy, skunky and sweaty – this particular odour is caused by a sulphurous terpene.
A different type of terpene is found in small sacs on the leaves of that wellknown pest repellent, marigold.
Some plants’ odours, however, are used to attract pollinators.
Those flowers that reek of rotting flesh are bidding to attract carrion flies and beetles. These range from the exotic, such as the rare and endangered giant Rafflesia arnoldii from Sumatra and Borneo, right down to the commonplace mountain-ash, or sorbus. In this putrid rotten flesh list can also be placed the eucomis aka pineapple lily; and stinking Iris ( Iris foetidissima). (You can almost guarantee any plant with foetidissima in its name will have a strong and unpleasant smell about it!)
Another everyday stinker is hawthorn ( Crataegus monogyna). Known in England as the may tree, its pretty white (or pink or crimson) flowers herald spring by emitting an aroma that has long divided noses. Some say the trimethylamine, which is one of the first chemicals formed when living tissue starts to decay, smells like rotting tissue; others old fish; while still others have described it as heavy and musky, with sexual undertones.
With an even more off-colour tang is the Bradford pear tree ( Pyrus calleryana ‘Bradford’). Prized for its white blossom and autumn colour, it is sold without a warning of the blossom’s bouquet, which is said to be redolent of semen.
Several plants have the indignity of having their perfume likened to urine. Brush against the leaves of flowering currant ( Ribes sanguineum) and you will know what I mean. The more delicatenatured may describe the aroma as, well, pungent but really, there is no going past the fact that it smells like a dozen old tomcats have been marking their territory.
Box can have a similar cat-pee pong, but apparently in this case it is not the foliage that smells, rather it is the inconspicuous flower. And, it is confined to the English box ( Buxus sempervirens), rather than the Japanese version ( Buxus microphylla).
To many, the perfume of paperwhites encapsulates spring. To those with more sensitive noses, however, these little narcissi smell like urine, and even manure. Full marks to them, for the biochemical responsible is indole, which is also present in faeces. Indole is also found in the scent of jasmine, orange and gardenia flowers.
New Zealand’s flora has its own malodorous member.
When crushed, the leaves of Coprosma foetidissima (aka hupiro¯ or stinkwood) smell like old cabbage, a scent so memorable, the whole genus is tainted with the name. Copros comes from the Greek work for dung, and osma for smell. ✤
Despite the publicity over “the world’s stinkiest flower”, it took us a while to find the source of a new, unpleasant odour in our kitchen.