‘Corpse Flower’ Fans Find Little to Sniff At
Curious visitors from across Southern California trooped to the Huntington Botanical Gardens on Sunday, lured by the promise of a strong whiff of rotting flesh.
But the spiky purple and green Amorphophallus titanum, a rare plant whose name means “giant shapeless phallus,” wasn’t cooperating. Its cabbage-like sheath remained stubbornly closed, hiding its famously smelly bloom for another day.
As tourists clutching video cameras hovered, curators allowed a few to slip under the ropes guarding the plant that rarely flowers. Some flapped their hands in front of their faces, trying to push the hoped-for stench into their nostrils.
“Take a deep breath,” urged Theresa Trunnelle, the Huntington’s nursery manager.
Alison Harvey, a UCLA grad student, pushed her nose up to the papery purple spear and inhaled with all her might. She pronounced the faint odor a cross between musty shoes and spoiled vegetables.
“It’s not so bad,” she said, her voice tinged with disappointment. “It wasn’t the big corpse smell that I was hoping for.”
That pungent blast could come as soon as today, said Trunnelle, who postponed her summer vacation to await the elusive blooming. The Huntington, which normally is closed Mondays, will be open today.
It is tough to predict precisely when the so-called “corpse flower,” which is native to the rain forests of Sumatra, will blossom. After shooting up almost 4 feet, 6 inches over the last two weeks, the plant’s growth is tapering off, suggesting that a bloom is imminent.
The Huntington, however, isn’t waiting to smell the flower before cranking up its publicity machine. The bookstore is stocked with postcards, magnets and “I Smelled the Stinky Flower” T-shirts.
In 1999, the same plant bloomed here. Billed as the world’s largest flower, its aroma is meant to attract pollinating dung beetles. Instead it drew 76,000 people over the course of its three-day flowering.
The scene was similar 65 years ago, at the first corpse-flower blooming in the United States. The New York Botanical Garden had to call police to handle the huge crowds.
Since then, there have been about 20 recorded bloomings throughout the country, including recent events in Fullerton and San Diego County. It is extremely rare for the same plant to bloom twice, botanists say.
The strange appeal of the botanical freak grabbed Bob and Beth Fernley on Friday, when the Burbank couple heard about it on the news.
“We had to check this out,” Bob Fernley said. “Because all flowers smell good, and this one doesn’t.”
He gazed reverentially at the plant as a fresh wave of gawkers crowded close. They had come from as near as Pasadena and as far as Riverside. They snapped pictures and jotted down the number of the Big Flower Hotline.”I was hoping it was actually going to be stinking,” Bob Fernley said. “Maybe we’ll come back tomorrow.”
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The Huntington will be open daily throughout the blooming cycle from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Adult admission is $10. For more information, call the Big Flower Hotline at (800) 200-5566.
