Rare corpse flower ready to bloom in Michigan. Here's what to know
(CBS DETROIT) - A rare flower will soon bloom in Michigan, and it's believed to be the first-ever corpse flower to bloom inside a private residence.
Owner Kevin Hauser of Dexter has named the plant 'Corpsy' and said she's very close to blooming.
"You can see right now she's getting pretty large," he said. "We're expecting the bloom to be within seven to ten days."
Corpsy is growing at a rate of three inches per day and has come a long way since he purchased the cloned Amorphophallus titanum specimen when it was just a two-inch corm.
The plant gets its name from its smell — when in bloom, it reeks of rotting flesh.
The flowers are native to the island of Sumatra, and only 1,000 plants are believed to remain in the wild.
This will be the second bloom of a corpse flower in the United States this year.
Hauser said he knew he wanted to acquire the plant the moment he saw one at Matthaei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor.
"I fell in love with a plant that I saw that was in full leaf, researched it, and only after some research did I learn that it had this story of this flower," he said. "So, then it became kind of a personal mission to say, 'Hey, I want to get the plant; I wonder if I can get it to flower as well?' And here we are, seven years later."
Corpsy isn't his only corpse flower.
He has several others at all stages of the plant's life cycle.
Hauser is one of approximately eight private growers of the rare plant in the country.
He said the most challenging part of growing the flowers is having enough space.
Aside from that, he said caring for the plants is relatively simple.
"It's actually really easy to take care of; it's pretty insect-resistant," he said. "It needs a lot of water and a lot of high-phosphorous fertilizer. But once it's planted and you're watering it and you're fertilizing it, it's a lot easier than most of the plants in this conservatory, to be honest."
At its peak, the flower is expected to grow eight feet tall.
The bloom and its strong smell only last between 24 and 48 hours.
What is a corpse flower?
Amorphophallus titanum, also known as the corpse flower, is the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. An inflorescence is a group of flowers that acts as one, according to the United States Botanical Garden.
The corpse plant can take up to seven years for the plant to bloom, and it blooms for two to three days. The bloom can grow to be up to eight feet tall.
It doesn't have an annual blooming cycle but blooms only when the corm has enough energy stored to do so.
The plant, native to Sumatra, Indonesia, is listed as endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The IUCN says the corpse plant population has declined more than 50% over the last 150 years, likely due to its native habitat being displaced by oil palm plantations.
Why is the plant called a corpse flower?
The plant is known as the corpse flower due to its stench, often compared to the smell of rotting flesh.
The U.S. Botanic Garden says the smell is most potent when the corpse plant is at its peak bloom.
Due to the emission of this odor and the heat, the plant attracts carrion beetles and flies.
