Arboretum All Set to Raise Stink

Leo Song, curator of Cal State Fullerton’s greenhouse, felt like a father-to-be disappointed by false labor. His 8-year-old titan arum plant showed every sign of blooming Wednesday, then didn’t.

A new growth had appeared at the base of the plant’s 3-foot-high stalk, a sprout that was definitely not just another leaf. It was a bud, seemingly ready to open. But that won’t happen until today, Song said, and when it does, it will be one stinky event.

The plant, aka a corpse flower, “smells like a dead horse that’s been lying in a field in July for a week,” Song said.

The stench, repulsive to humans, attracts seed-scattering insects and birds. The flower is spectacular, making the green plant resemble a long, skinny squash with a red speckled ballerina’s skirt. For the big event, the campus staff moved the plant from the greenhouse to a porch in the arboretum.

The Cal State Fullerton plant is rare, and its blossoming is even more unusual because titan arum flowers appear erratically. Song estimates that, since 1927, only 20 have bloomed in the United States.

A year ago, when another corpse plant bloomed on campus, 5,000 people came to see and smell it.

The flower will be at its peak this afternoon, Song said. Afterward, it will begin to wilt.

The exhibit is from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. today only. On Friday, the arboretum resumes regular hours, 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

Visitors shouldn’t wear clothes they mind getting pungent.