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The Corpse Flower

I briefly talked about the New York Botanical Gardens in my last entry and wound up thinking about one of the exotic flowers they showcased... the Titan Arum aka the Corpse Flower. This rare flower can grow to 7 feet in height. It takes about 7 years to bloom and its blossoms last for only 3 days. During the 3 day period, the flower opens up to reveal a bright red center.

The flower gets its signature name from the fact that it produces the smell of a rotting corpse to attract pollinators when it is in bloom.

Because it takes a long time to time to blossom the Bronx Botanical gardens always organizes a massive celebration whenever one of these flower comes close to blooming with a web cam streaming the entire period. It draws a huge crowd with tons of people rushing over to see (and smell) it. I attended the last Corpse Flower celebration that the garden was holding a couple of years back. You wouldn't expect a flower blossoming to be so exciting. For the record I did take the opportunity to take in its scent when I was there and yes I would describe the smell to be similar to that of dead animals. When people are encouraged to stop and smell the flowers, I doubt that this would be anyone's first choice. However, getting to inhale this Flower's aroma is a rare opportunity that a person is unlikely to forget.