Researchers at the Botanical Gardens have speeded up video footage to reveal how it blossoms.
Biologist Erwin Grill said: "People want to know if it really does smell as badly as its reputation, and I can tell you it does. It’s something like the smelling of rotting carcasses."
YouTube link.
The Bonn University flower, which is native to Sumatra, was entered into the Guinness Book of Records in 2003 as the tallest bloom in cultivation, having reached 8ft 11in high. It has since been beaten by one on display at Winnipesaukee Orchids in Gilford, New Hampshire, US, which measured 10ft 2in.
2 comments:
I always wanted to smell the corpse flower.
There's a fungus called the dog's head stinkhorn that looks like a horny zombie's willy; it too smells of rotten meat. I know this because as a kid I spent hours as holding my breath whilst holding flashguns for my dad as he photographed the reeking things. It's fairly obvious when you're near on in a forest, however I do appreciate the name.
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