The world's smelliest flower in bloom at Amazon Spheres
SEATTLE - The largest, unbranched flowering structure in the world, leaches a foul, rotting corpse-like odor through the tropical rainforests of western Sumatra, Indonesia — the corpse flower.
For the second time since being at the Amazon Spheres, Morticia, the rare corpse flower is showing off its pungent scent to the city of Seattle through its rotten bloom. The first bloom at the Spheres was in 2018.
Does the corpse flower really smell like a corpse?
Believe it or not, the corpse flower, formally known as the Titan Arum, really does smell like a corpse — the smell is most often described as resembling rotting flesh, or decaying meat.
How do corpse flowers smell so bad?
Dig deeper:
A unique element of these flowers is their pollination process — they are pollinated by flies rather than bees. It uses a form of deceptive pollination, which attracts its natural pollinators with its rotting smell, tricking them into thinking it is a food source for them.
Chemically, the plant produces organic compounds including sulfur-based chemicals like dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl trisulfide, which essentially means they have pungent odors, according to a study by scientists at Dartmouth College.
How long does it take for the corpse flower to bloom?
Corpse flowers can grow over 12 feet tall, but Morticia is 5-foot-6. The corpse flower has a long waiting period, as it takes seven to 10 years to bloom. During the time between blooms, the plant gets energy from the sun, and it stores the energy in its corm, which is its large underground storage organ. The corm serves as the plant's main source of energy.
How many days is the corpse flower in bloom?
Morticia began blooming yesterday afternoon. Corpse flowers are only in bloom for a few days and Morticia is waning, or past its peak, according to Pramuk. In a few days, the plant will no longer smell and is beginning to shrivel up.
The Source: Information from this story came from original FOX 13 reporting and a study from Dartmouth College.
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