Flower Begins to Wilt, Along With Hope of Huge Crowds

The hopes for drawing vast crowds of onlookers are wilting as fast as the corpse flower at the Cal State Fullerton Arboretum.

Arboretum officials had expected thousands of visitors Wednesday morning, lured by the promise of seeing and smelling the first Titan Arum ever to bloom in Orange County. They had stocked souvenir T-shirts, postcards and even emergency water bottles in anticipation. The flower, known for a stench that resembles rotting flesh, blooms just a few days every two years. A corpse flower at the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino last August drew 12,000 people the first day it opened.

Fewer than 1,000 people turned out Wednesday for the Fullerton flower, which began to unfurl its five-foot blossom early Tuesday afternoon.

“I wish we could say they were beating down our doors, but they weren’t,” said Janet Van Diest, an arboretum spokeswoman.

As if in shame at its low drawing power, the Fullerton flower began wilting almost as soon as it bloomed. (The reason is believed to be higher-than-average heat.)

The Huntington’s Titan lasted about three days before it even began to collapse, but botanists think today will be the Fullerton blossom’s last. By Wednesday afternoon, eight inches of the 58-inch flower had tipped over.

The odor, which is released in bursts, is meant to attract pollinating dung beetles. The calla lily-type flower is native to Sumatra and has only bloomed 12 times in the United States. It looks like a giant ear of unhusked corn surrounded by a magenta skirt.

The Titan exhibit will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. for viewing during the bloom. A $5 donation is expected for admission. The arboretum is located on the Cal State Fullerton campus. A hotline has been set up for updates: (714) 278-2981.

Leave it to nature, nursery manager Chris Barnhill said, to have its way with everything.

“You always like things to last longer,” he said. “Like your first date.”