Free Republic

MILWAUKEE , Jan. 8 (UPI) -- A rare, large and foul-smelling plant in the lily family that blooms about every six years may stink up the Milwaukee Public Museum Jan. 18, authorities say. The corpse flower -- a tital arum (large lily), or Amorphophallus titanium (huge unshaped penis) -- normally grows wild in Indonesian rainforests. The schedule by which they flower is unpredictable, and once they do so, it is only for 24 to 48 hours, says a notice on the Web site of San Francisco State University. In 2008 when the museum's other corpse flower bloomed, it gave off...

BERLIN (AFP) - Thousands of Germans have flocked to a botanical garden to witness the freak appearance of three flowers on a giant member of the lily family, notorious for its revolting smell. Since mid-April an Arum Titan in a garden in Bonn in western Germany has been displaying three monster buds, a phenomenon described by the management as unique. The plant is known to botanists as Amorphophallus titanum but more familiarly as the corpse-flower because of its repulsive odour. "Our example is the only one in the world to put out several flowers simultaneously," the garden exulted on its...