Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Rare, smelly Corpse Flower in bloom
Getting sick of all those sweet-smelling flowers in the garden?
Then head over to Longwood Gardens today to check out the rare Corpse Flower in bloom (it last bloomed in 1961) today until 10 p.m. Check for timed tickets here.
So what is the Corpse Flower, which actually smells like rotting meat?
According to Longwood Gardens, titan arums are native to the rainforests of Sumatra and therefore love heat and humidity. Most years, as a titan arum cycles through periods of dormancy and growth, a large
umbrella-like leaf will form. Every 4 to 5 years, however, a bloom will form instead of a leaf — and the bloom will grow to the towering height of 6 to 8 feet, making it the largest unbranched inflorescence — defined as a cluster or spike of individual flowers — in the world.
Titan arum is a member of the Araceae family and, like its close relatives, has a distinct flower structure. Common aroids include calla lily, anthurium, and Jack-in-thepulpit. All have a central fleshy spike called a spadix, which is wrapped in a frilly modified leaf called a spathe. It is rare to catch a titan arum blooming in the wild or in cultivation.
The last titan arum to bloom at Longwood was in 1961.
Sprout came out of dormancy and started to form a flower bud in mid-May 2020.
As Sprout prepares to bloom, its growth starts to slow. The bracts around the base of the bloom will shed, fully revealing the frilly spathe that wraps the spadix. Very soon, the spathe will turn maroon in color and begin to unfurl.
The unfurling process typically begins mid-afternoon and is complete within several hours, exposing the spadix and hundreds of small female flowers at its base.
The stench of rotting meat that titan arums are so famous for will follow, likely later into the evening or in the middle of the night, to attract its native nocturnal pollinators looking to feed and lay eggs on decaying animals. Sprout will emulate this smell of decay with scent molecules that can travel up to a half-mile to grab the attention of carrion beetles and flies.
By the next morning, the smell will start to dissipate. Male flowers that are located just above the female flowers on the spadix will begin to release their pollen in long chains.