"Corpse flower" to bloom soon at Milwaukee museum

AP via ABClocal ^ | November 03, 2008 | staff reporter

[Daffynition]

MILWAUKEE -- Officials at the Milwaukee Public Museum expect the so-called "corpse flower" to bloom very soon.

The museum's curator of botany, Neil Luebke (LIHB'-kee), says chances are good the titan arum will bloom Monday afternoon, close early Tuesday, open again that afternoon and then close for good sometime Wednesday.

The flower is known for its odor of rotting flesh. It comes in waves and attracts carrion beetles and sweat bees in its native rain forests of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

[snip]

The museum obtained the plant in 2002 from a seed produced by University of Wisconsin-Madison's flower. It takes six or more years to flower and this will be its first flowering.

[Daffynition]

Given the political climate ... the metaphor is perfectly appropriate and timing ideal.

[10Ring]

'Corpse Flower' Collapses At Museum: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27629420/

[Mamzelle]

I have mushrooms like that. They jump out of the forest floor every September and have an odor exactly like decaying meat.

[max americana]

“corpse flower”...i thought they were talking about Helen Thomas.

[thesetruths]

timely indeed

[Daffynition]

Wow. Thanks for the link. Metaphor still stands, however. :-D

[Secret Agent Man]

Send it to Barack. He’s going to f@cking kill us all.

[nmh]

Give Barck Hussein Obama a bouquet of them.

He is the ULTIMATE baby killer. He likes DEATH.

[Battle Axe]

Sabotage by BHO and his ilk.

Oh the corpse became a corpse before it was supposed to bloom and be a corpse.

Didn't Klintoon say something like I didn't smoke the smoke and it wasn't smoking when I didn't inhale.....

Maybe I'm just 62 and my age is showing.

[Red_Devil 232]

Gee the flower was ready to deliver but keeled over on the eve of its big performance!

Reminds me of a sickly looking Freshman Senator giving his first presser after learning from his handlers and advisers he was not the one in charge and that his Pie for everyone was not going to happen!

[10Ring]

It's like our nation now that BO is in. Everyone was ready for it to just stink a bit, but now it's a full blown collapse.

I was considering going to see this (being in Mil. and all), but once it collapsed, I just decided to watch the vid: http://www.mpm.edu/exhibitions/special/titan-arum/video.php

I'm hoping the Packers don't pull a "corpse flower" right now...LOL!

[Daffynition]

Any of them like these?

I took a mini-course with wild mushroom experts and all I learned was not to eat any wild 'shrooms. The 'experts' who hiked with us couldn't even agree on what was safe or not ... so I'm very wary. They are a fascinating life form. ;)

[Daffynition]

[Ciexyz]

ugly sucker, it is.

[Daffynition]

Thank you for that link! Well, my metaphor has more meaning than even I imagined.

Good luck with your Packers ...[but I thought baseball season is over] ;-P

[boop]

Looks like something from Star Trek.

[Mamzelle]

The mushroom that smells like ripe roadkill is large, brown and round with a short stem. If you disturb them, say with a ATV, the stench is powerful. They only "bloom" for a couple of weeks, and dissolve in a very disgusting way at the end of their cycle.

There are several fascinating shrooms that pop up in the very early autumn, but I don't see them every year. One is as big as a dinner plate, some are bright red.

The only mushroom I'd ever eat would be a morel, since I'm confident I know what they look like. But I've never found one, so I'm safe so far! All the ones I've eaten have come from Whole Foods.

While I love mushrooms, and eat lots of them, I'm not really fond of the exotic ones. The morels I bought I didn't think were all that. Shitakes are rubbery, as are most exotics. I like baby bellas, with just a little truffle oil.

[A knight without armor]

I have not had a morel in decades. But when I was a pup my mother an I would hunt them in the woods and have dishpans full of them sitting around in the kitchen. She sauteed them in butter and we'd eat plates of them. Now I see them dried in little ounces in the grocery store. I wish everyone who likes morels could have a big bunch of fresh ones. They are so good and when you hunt them, free of cost. But now I would be afraid to try it myself as I would be afraid of making a mistake and taking the wrong thing.

[Mamzelle]

How I like best to prepare them...my family are like hobbits, crazy about mushrooms. Last time I prepared them I bought five boxes of pre-sliced, pre-cleaned. Because I cook so many, I can't be slowing down to clean and slice them.

I spead them out in a big pan, my biggest, turn on the heat and sear them without any added liquid, fat or salt. Once they've reduced down and are browned like beef, I drizzle olive oil and salt over them. I sprinkle in about a tablespoon of flour, coat them all with the oil and flour. Last, I add some liquid, beef stock if I have it and maybe some Worsty sauce, to deglaze and make up the sauce, and I sometimes add about 1/2 teaspoon of truffle oil.

Whole Foods has a good "Better than Boullion" mushroom demi-glace that's great to add mushroom flavor when you don't have mushrooms. It keeps for months in the frig.

[Malesherbes]

It looks like Dracula giving somebody the finger.