On August 19th, thousands of eager guests swarmed the Denver Botanical Gardens to witness—with eyes and noses—the long-awaited bloom of the corpse flower, a plant native to Southeast Asia whose strong stench resembles that of rotting flesh.
Just Thinking About Stinky Makes People Swoon
The corpse flower was donated to the Gardens in 2007 when it outgrew its Colorado owner’s greenhouse. After affectionately naming the plant “Stinky,” it was placed in the corner of a greenhouse and lived an inconspicuous life. But when Stinky began growing and swelling again in the past week, Garden employees realized it was preparing to bloom and release its foul musk. They informed the press and set up a live web feed of the blooming a week in advance, and by blooming day, excitement had reached a fever pitch.
Over 5,000 people waited in five-hour lines to have a look and a sniff at the corpse flower, a record attendance for Denver Botanical Gardens. Cars from throughout Denver and the Front Range packed parking lots for miles around, attracted by the uniqueness of the opportunity: not only does the corpse flower only bloom every 7-12 years and for only a few days each time, but also Stinky is the only corpse flower in the whole Rocky Mountain region. Deforestation in Southeast Asia has also made the corpse flower a threatened species.
Underwhelming Stench Leaves Some Visitors Disappointed
After coming from near and far and snaking through long lines, some guests felt that Stinky didn’t live up to its (his) name. (Come on, do you really think Stinky is a girl?) Visitors who sniffed the flower reported smelling an odor, but not the knock-your-socks-off putridity they had hoped for.
Though disappointingly dis-dank, many guests still walked away satisfied at their once-in-a-lifetime experience. It also raised awareness about the destruction of forest habitats in which corpse flowers live and thrive—perhaps where they are at their stinkiest.
Why Rotting Flesh? Methods of the Corpse Flower
The corpse flower—formally known as Amorphophallus titanum, which in Latin literally translates to “giant deformed penis”—emits an odor resembling rotting flesh in order to attract flies and other insects to land on it and pollinate it. All flowers do this to some extend, only most flowers try attracting insects with a sugar-tooth, not a taste for spoiled steak.
Would you wait five hours in a line to see and smell a corpse flower bloom? Share your thoughts!
