It’s not every day that folks gather for momentous occasions involving plant-life. Most prefer to either ignore those that do not matter to them or prepare the edible ones for eating. There are exceptions to the rule though, and of all exceptions, this ranks at the very top. When a rare flower that smells like a corpse is the focus of attention, everyone should pause and pay attention.
Most of us cringe at the smell of rotten flesh. This was not the case when the corpse flower, a rare gigantic flower found in Australia bloomed. Corpse flowers smell like rotting flesh when they bloom. While there are lots of covered noses, most of the people who were present at the blooming willingly went to see and perceive the “awfully smelly” aura of this phenomenon.
The two-meter tall, endangered flower normally blooms every 1000 days but this particular one bloomed for the first time in 10 years Monday, December 28. The news naturally attracted long lines of tourists to the flower’s abode in South Australia’s Mount Lofty Botanic Garden to smell its gagging pungency. The botanic garden has been growing the corpse flower for 10 years and for this particular plant, its flower began to grow about two weeks ago.
The growth was discovered by Mr. Goulter, the horticulture curator who had tended the plant for 8 years and had stated that the flower’s pungent smell was overpowering.
According to the BBC, Goulter stated:
“When I opened the door this morning it almost knocked me over, it was so strong,” he said.
He also says:
“It’s fantastic. I didn’t think it would ever flower,” he said.
“It comes from [the Indonesian island of] Sumatra, so we’ve been keeping it warm in winter and cool in summer, and keeping the humidity high.”
Tourists have made its abode a place to visit as they had to stand in line for hours to catch a glimpse of the flower.
68-year-old tourist – Judy Twelftree said she stood in line for an hour and a half to see the plant. She also stated:
“The smell wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, it was a bit like a rubbish bin.”
Others likened the smell to that of a dead rat, teenage boys’ rooms and “cooked broccoli that had gone off in the fridge.”
As the plant doesn’t pollinate itself, it relies on sweat bees and carrion beetles that are attracted by its stench to carry pollen from and to the flower.
The corpse flower’s claim to fame may be the fact that it doesn’t live beyond 36 hours of blooming, after which it collapses.
Talk about short-lived fame.
