'Stinky' The Corpse Flower Blooming Now At Denver Botanic Gardens
DENVER (CBS4) -- A rare event is unfolding in Denver -- a corpse flower known as 'Stinky' is blooming at the Denver Botanic Gardens.
Officials announced that the corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) had started blooming at about 4 p.m.
The bloom typically lasts for about two days.
The website states the following:
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The Gardens will maintain regular hours today [Thursday] and tomorrow, 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. LAST ENTRY TONIGHT 8 P.M.
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Gardens members can enter an hour early at 8 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 31.
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To facilitate your visit to York Street, we strongly encourage members and non-members to pre-order or pre-purchase your admission ticket and print out/save to your phone. Also consider alternate transportation to avoid parking congestion.
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Limited quantity of special edition T-shirts will be for sale at the Shop at the Gardens and member discount applies.
Prime viewing is during the first 24 hours of the bloom.
The approximately 18-year-old plant can be viewed in the Orangery greenhouse, adjacent to Marnie's Pavilion. Stinky first bloomed in August 2015, marking the Gardens' first corpse flower bloom in its history. A different plant, Little Stinker, bloomed in 2016.
Horticulturists are measuring the plant daily. It will grow to be more than 5 feet tall. The corm is larger than in 2015, causing horticulturists to believe the plant will be taller and the bloom larger.
The corpse flower bloom, native to rainforests of western Sumatra (an Indonesian island), has a foul odor that resembles decaying flesh. The potency of the aroma increases from late evening until the middle of the night and tapers off as morning arrives. It will not smell until it blooms. The smell is produced to attract flies and carrion beetles for pollination. While blooming, the spadix (the large spike) warms to 98 degrees, further vaporizing the odor and increasing the range from which pollinators are attracted.
