U's 'Corpse Flower' To Pungently Bloom Next Week
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- With a furious stench, the University of Minnesota's so-called "Corpse Flower" is set to send rotted meat scents wafting forth for all to enjoy next week.
The U's Titan Arum, or Amorphophallus titanium, is scheduled to bloom next week, and the public is invited to drop in Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. through 3:30 p.m.
The lucky people on site when the flower opens will be subjected to an overwhelming rotten smell.
"Tens of thousands of visitors show up just to inhale this awful carrion smell," Conservatory curator Lisa Aston Philander said.
The plant hasn't bloomed in seven years, which is fairly standard for this particularly fetid flower. The Titan Arum uses its strong odor to cut through everything around it and attract pollinators.
"This is a thermogenic plant that warms itself, to temperatures comparable to humans, to allow the odor to volatilize," Aston Philander said. "In essence, the warmer it gets, the more stinky it is, and the scent changes over the estimated 48 hours that the plant is in bloom."
A similar plant named "Perry" has bloomed multiple times at Gustavus Adolphus College in recent years.