Titum Arum Watch 2013

July 16, 2013 10:01 AM

Washington DC's Botanic Gardens is livestreaming the blossoming process of its corpse flower. The corpse flower, aka titan arum, is well known for smelling absolutely awful.

If you're too impatient for the livestream, here's a time lapse video of the flower's previous bloom in 2007.

posted by troika (28 comments total)

Two or three of these bloomed at about the same time at my university a few years back; it was big news and people lined up to see them. A friend worked in the greenhouse and brought a few of us in after hours to get a close up look and sniff. Most of the others couldn't stand to be in the same room as the plant, but I couldn't get much more than a hint of the smell with my head stuck inside of the thing. That's my corpse flower story.
posted by msbrauer at 10:08 AM on July 16, 2013

Nature is fucking crazy and so is technology. There's something really poetic about being able to watch this totally absurd natural event on a live cam. Totally awesome.

I think what I find most nuts is that the blooming is so unpredictable apparently. A few years to decades? Wow.
posted by Lutoslawski at 10:10 AM on July 16, 2013 [2 favorites]

I went to see the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's stink blossom in 2006, and I couldn't smell a thing. Big disappointment! And when the local weekly paper published a photo of the thing, it showed me staring at it.

I wonder why the USBG and the BBG are botanic, when most other gardens are botanical. I emailed the BBG once to ask, and they never answered. Stinkers.
posted by moonmilk at 10:19 AM on July 16, 2013

The heat index is almost 100F today. Why anyone would go into a greenhouse to spend time with a flower that literally smells like death is beyond me.

Unless they get to play in the sprinklers. That would be so awesome right now.
posted by zombieflanders at 10:21 AM on July 16, 2013 [2 favorites]

I don't understand, it's not catching any fish.
posted by elizardbits at 10:22 AM on July 16, 2013

I love it when this happens! And that we live in world where I can be 3500 miles away from a corpse flower blooming and because of technology it can cure my boredom. (Well, cure may be a strong word, but I am temporarily amused.)
posted by iamkimiam at 10:25 AM on July 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

They are horrid. However, I have to admit that after spending Day of the Dead in Patzcuaro, where graves and representations of graves are covered in marigolds -- doubtless effective to hide the smell of rotting corpses -- it is marigolds and their aroma that now creep me out.
posted by bearwife at 11:00 AM on July 16, 2013

The university in my hometown maintains one of these. I popped in for a visit when it bloomed (shameless selflink) a couple of years ago; the scent certainly wasn't pleasant, but not overpowering.
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 11:17 AM on July 16, 2013

it is marigolds and their aroma that now creep me out.

Same, except with Nag Champa and the Varanasi ghats.
posted by elizardbits at 11:20 AM on July 16, 2013

We have a pawpaw tree in our backyard. My husband didn't tell me until AFTER he planted it that their flowers are "pollinated by carrion flies and beetles, so the flower is meat-colored, downward facing, and not so sweet smelling." There is some debate about whether they smell like rotting MEAT or rotting FISH but the point is, they stink. The fruit is extremely delicious but, yeah, first there's the carrion flowering part.

Anyway if you like corpse flowers, you can grow yourself some dead-thing-stinking, carrion-fly-pollinated flowers right in your own backyard, that are actually really interesting and pretty flowers (if you can pinch your nose to go admire them), and they end in yummy fruit!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:33 AM on July 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

We have a few of these at the university. They do indeed smell terrible, but it's only for a few days, so if you go late it's not as bad. The flower might be falling over by then, though.

My parents grew a relative of the big ones, a voodoo lily. It gets maybe three feet high. It smelled like a bag of garbage left in the sun for a week. And of course they did it indoors, since their climate's not exactly tropical. Do not recommend.
posted by echo target at 11:43 AM on July 16, 2013

I've grown another variety of carrion flower, Stapelia gigantea, for over 20 years now. The smell's really not quite as bad as advertised IMO, but the appearance is really impressive. The huge blossoms have a fleshy texture and thickness to them, striated pinkish coloration, and a delightful covering of hair that presumably fool flies into laying eggs there (though I don't think I ever had that happen, or if so, none hatched.)

If you'd like to give it a try and don't have room for a larger plant, this could be the one for you.
posted by asperity at 12:06 PM on July 16, 2013

The heat index is almost 100F today. Why anyone would go into a greenhouse to spend time with a flower that literally smells like death is beyond me.
posted by zombieflanders at 10:21 AM on July 16

Um, like, OK, ZOMBIEflanders...

Eponysterical.
posted by fikri at 12:59 PM on July 16, 2013

I'm posting from inside a walk-in freezer.
posted by zombieflanders at 1:04 PM on July 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

You know, whenever I read about these super stinky flowers, I think about how most people find durians to be super stinky fruits, but I adore and love them and the smell... so maybe I'd actually find that the super stinky flowers smell REALLY awesome?

There's definitely some subjectivity in whether something smells bad or not, so who gets to decide? And if they do smell like durian can I plant one in my garden please?
posted by destrius at 10:20 PM on July 16, 2013

I just walked down there, and it's not stinky now. Someone above mentioned lilies--there is a strong floral scent, but there are lots of other flowers nearby, so I couldn't isolate the smell, but it does smell like lilies in there right now.
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:16 AM on July 17, 2013

I went to see the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's stink blossom in 2006, and I couldn't smell a thing.

I saw this one in DC the last time it bloomed in 2007. It was in full bloom but didn't smell (good or bad).
posted by probablysteve at 12:37 PM on July 17, 2013

Man oh man, it's a life goal of mine to one day see a blooming Titan Arum in person. Until then a webcam will have to do.
posted by Kattullus at 3:51 PM on July 17, 2013

I went over yesterday and it's still not in bloom, the horticulturalist said that they're thinking Friday. It also smells hilariously like Chanel No. 5 in there, because the corpse flower is right next to the plant from which we get the main ingredient for that perfume.
posted by troika at 7:17 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

It's blooming!
posted by Kattullus at 5:43 PM on July 21, 2013

Holy shit, look at that thing go! Impromptu meetup tomorrow after work, anyone?
posted by troika at 5:46 PM on July 21, 2013

(right now on the webcam there's a security guy taking a selfie with it)
posted by troika at 6:00 PM on July 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

Kinda cool how it's all alone right now (museum's closed) and just blooming away, stinking up the place.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:59 AM on July 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Can't do after work today, but could do lunch, if anyone is interested. At the very least, I'll post a notification of when I'm going so you can see me on the webcam!
posted by MrMoonPie at 7:34 AM on July 22, 2013

Totally going right now. I'll be the tall guy standing to the right of the flower, near the sign, at 12:30, black polo and light khakis.
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:09 AM on July 22, 2013

Aaaaaand there are totally 500 people in line. Like, I actually did a rough count. Nope.
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:37 AM on July 22, 2013

Doctornecessiter and I just passed through, 30 min wait. Doesn't smell bad at all, which is sort of a disappointment.
posted by troika at 3:21 PM on July 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

The US Botanic Garden has put up a timelapse video of the Titan Arum blooming.
posted by Kattullus at 11:10 AM on July 23, 2013