Posted on 08/07/2002 7:35:57 PM PDT by Rodney King
Rare, Stinky Flower Set to Bloom
By Discovery News
Aug. 6 — A rare, huge, stinky flower that only blooms every three years is poised to release its rancid scent this week at The Huntington Library in San Marino, Calif., the library reports on its Web site.
Amorphophallus titanum is also called the Corpse Flower for its fragrance, sometimes described as a mix of rotting flesh and excrement.
The flower was discovered in the rainforests of its native Sumatra in 1878, and came via London's Kew Gardens to the New York Botanical Garden in 1937, where it bloomed for the first time in the United States. Specimens of the plant have bloomed only 11 times in its 65-year U.S. history; the eleventh time was at Huntington Botanical Gardens in 1999.
Amorphophallus titanum is said to be the largest flower in the world, normally growing over 6 feet tall, though the tallest on record was over 10 feet, according to the library. However, the plant is not technically a flower. Rather, clusters of flowers hide at the foot of the fleshy central column, separated into male and female flower groups. The Corpse Flower can self-pollinate as the male flowers release pollen and the female flowers receive it. The giant stink of the flower, matched only by its size, is strongest at night, a feature thought to attract insect pollinators in its Sumatran rainforest home.
During the plant's two-day blooming period, one gigantic, umbrella-like leaf appears with the flower. After the bloom fades, the leaf may live on for another year before dying, sending the tuber into a short dormancy before producing another leaf or flower.
The Huntington Library says it expects the Corpse Flower to bloom by Wednesday, though it can't predict exactly when the first stink will waft over expectant crowds.
It looks like a giant ding-dong and it smells like crap. I expect these to become popular in San Francisco in the near future.
I can not figure out why someone would want to smell something that bad.
Sound more like a description of Hitlery when she's wearing Ole Crusty! LOL
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