photo by U.S. Botanic Garden
From the U.S. Botanic Garden this morning:
“In a surprise move, the first corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) opened late last night! At a height of 82.5”, this bloom began opening and smelling last night. If you’d like to see it in full bloom, we will have extended hours until 8 p.m. tonight (July 22). The second bloom
is also about ready to bloom, could we be so lucky it would open this evening? A bloom will usually stand anywhere from 1-3 days, and the “stink” is mostly just during the first 12 hours after it opens to attract flies and beetles for pollination. There’s still a small amount of smell this morning, which will continue to fall as the day continues, but if you want to see this massive inflorescence, it will be beautiful all day!”