It’s Foul, It Stinks, It’s a Guaranteed Hit
What I know about flowers could fit on the pistil of an Ipomoea purpurea.
But I know a fair amount about rotting animal flesh, so when the folks at the Cal State Fullerton arboretum said they had a rare, 5-foot-high flower that smelled like carrion when in bloom and would attract every dung beetle for miles around, well, you can imagine how I high-tailed it out there.
As you read this, lines may already be forming at the arboretum to see the famous “corpse flower” that botanists earlier this week estimated would bloom Thursday night but which began blooming Tuesday afternoon.
Let the onslaught begin.
Arboretum officials say only about a dozen of the flowers, which are indigenous to the Sumatran rain forest, have bloomed in the United States in the last 65 years. They expect the lines to see the flower will resemble those a generation ago when people across the country flocked to the traveling King Tut exhibit. And if it weren’t for the wonders of mummification, this flower apparently would smell like the king.
“When it opens up and blossoms, everyone will understand why it’s known as the corpse flower,” arboretum director Greg Dyment told me Monday when the flower was just sitting there quietly, its “skirt” of petals wrapped tightly around its phallic-shaped main protrusion.
I dropped in again Tuesday morning and stayed until noon, apparently missing the blooming by about three hours.
Drat the luck.
Blooming occurs when the petals begin to unfold, and a series of chemical reactions unleash the smell which can be picked up a half-mile away.
Lisa Blackburn knows. She’s the spokeswoman for the Huntington Library in San Marino. Its nationally known botanical garden featured a corpse flower last August and drew throngs.
Eau de Road Kill
So, I ask Blackburn, is the smell as bad as advertised?
“The smell is very strong,” she says. “To me, it smelled like a dead animal on a hot summer day.”
It stunk so much that attendance was up 180% while the flower was on display.
“It’s new, it’s different,” Dyment says of the flower’s appeal. “It’s the largest flower that most people will ever see in their lifetime. It’s such an odd flower in every respect, it’s a must-see.”
The arboretum, at Associated Road and Yorba Linda Boulevard, will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through the weekend. Dyment says he wouldn’t be surprised if 20,000 people showed up.
I asked some early birds at the arboretum Tuesday why they wanted to see the stinkin’ thing. “If it was a nonsmelling plant, I don’t think anyone would show up,” joked Dennis Okada of Garden Grove. “Flowers are not meant to be unpleasant, and this thing is. People want to know why. It’s like venturing into the unknown.”
The odor results from chemical reactions that occur when in bloom. The stench attracts flies and beetles, who have a field day with the plant.
But no matter what happens, the thing will stink for the next few days. After that, the flower will go back to the greenhouse and rot away. But if botanists are lucky, one of the beetles will have pollinated it.
Rosie Walcek of Fullerton was looking at the pre-bloom flower when I was out there. I ask her if the rumored foul smell is merely incidental to her interest. “No, it’s integral,” she says, “because it’s so rare for a plant. A plant is a plant. Rotting flesh is animal. It’s imitating an animal [to attract the beetles needed for pollination]. It’s almost like a thought process, like cellular intelligence.”
From what I gather, visitors won’t be thinking of cellular intelligence when anywhere near the plant in bloom. The line will move quickly, if you get my drift.
Still, we humans love the unknown. Even if it reeks to high heaven.
“It’s the curiosity factor and the fact it really is a botanical marvel,” says the Huntington Library’s Blackburn. “You look at it and say, ‘Wow, ain’t nature grand?’ ”
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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com.
