Corpse flower offers rare bloom at Huntington gardens

3:21 PM June 18, 2009

Thousands of visitors have flocked to the Huntington Botanical Gardens today to see the brief bloom of a corpse flower, a plant famous for its rotting smell and its rare flowering, which happens once every few years or more.

The last time the corpse flower bloomed at the gardens in San Marino was in 2002, and the last time before that was in 1999 -- the first recorded bloom in California's history. Many have been monitoring the Huntington flower's progression in recent days. Once the bloom was announced Tuesday at 2 p.m., the deluge began.

If you want to see it, act quickly. The flower has begun to close. Its petals, which were outstretched this morning, are now ruffled, said Lisa Blackburn, a spokeswoman for the gardens.

The flower will close in the next day or two, and botanists do not know when it will bloom again.

“It’s a very brief and very beautiful and very smelly moment at the same time,” Blackburn said.
“It might be done for the next decade.”

The flower is native to the rain forests of Sumatra island, in western Indonesia, and though it is nicknamed the corpse flower because of its smell, its shape inspired its official name: Amorphophallus titanum, which roughly translates to "large, shapeless phallus," Blackburn said.

-- Raja Abdulrahim

More info and picture

Famous “Stinky Flower” Blooms

By STEPHANIE MOJICA
www.pasadenanow.com
Published: Thursday, June 18, 2009 | 6:14 AM

The famous “stinky flower” at The Huntington Library started to bloom Wednesday afternoon and is available for both visitors and members to view.

A different “Corpse Flower” known officially as Amorphophallus titanum, bloomed at The Huntington in 1999, according to the organization’s website. The most recent flower is germinated from a seed of the past “stinky flower.”

The flower is now close to 7 feet tall, a dramatic growth from its nearly two and a half foot tall stature on May 29. The estimated diameter of a fully-grown “stinky flower” is 3 to 4 feet.

This is the third famous “Corpse Flower,” known for its massive height and especially foul odor, to grace The Huntington, according to a news release.

Blooms of Amorphophallus titanium are exceptionally rare, and seeing them can be difficult because within a day or two of blooming, the flower collapses under its own weight and withers away. Only about 50 such flowers have been recorded in the United States, and The Huntington was the first in California to have the flower in 1999.

The flower can be viewed by the public between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardnes, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. The flower is located at The Huntington’s Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science. Those who are members or become members of The Huntington can enjoy special viewings between 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. until Saturday. For more information, call 626-405-2100.