It’s big, it’s bizarre, it really stinks and it can be found in Washington D.C. and no, it’s not a politician

Visitors have been turning up in droves to see one of the star attractions at the United States Botanic Garden in Washington D.C.

Smelly corpse flower in bloom

The corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) originates from Western Sumatra’s tropical rain forest and is the largest unbranched inflorescence in the plant kingdom. It blooms for just 2-3 days once every two to three years, with the bloom reaching heights of up to 9 feet tall.

So it’s understandable that there was plenty of excitement in the US Botanic Garden when one of the corpse flowers permanently on display in the Tropics house bloomed last Tuesday.

The plant, which is over 8 years old, started to open around 3:40 pm on August 5 and was fully open by the evening. It is the third time that the plant has bloomed since 2017.

Rotting flesh, smelly garbage

Corpse flowers have a unusual floral scent - or to be more precise, an unbearably foul smell. The odor has been likened to rotting flesh, making it one of the smelliest flowers on Earth. It emits a pungent smell to attract scavengers, usually carrion beetles and flesh flies who then act as pollinators.

Corpse flowers have a long life span, 30-40 years and are listed as “endangered”. There are fewer than 1,000 individuals thought to be left in the wild and around 1,200 individual cultivated plants in 111 institutions around the world.

The US Botanic Garden has several mature corpse flowers in their collection so if you missed this month’s bloom, don’t worry — multiple corpse flower bloom every year. The institution updates its website and social media outlets whenever one is coming into bloom.

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