WASHINGTON — Anticipation is growing, excitement is building and crowds have been thick at the U.S. Botanic Gardens, where the rare Corpse Flower is about to bloom, stinking to high heaven.
The gardens should know by 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. Monday whether the flower will bloom Monday night. If it does bloom, the Botanic Gardens will be open until 11 p.m. Monday.
It takes about six hours for the flower to fully open and its peak aroma to come out.
The flower may remain in bloom for 24 to 48 hours.
What does it smell like?
“It’s actually a mixture of rotting onions, rotting fish and old sweat socks,” said Todd Brethauer, a volunteer docent at the Botanic Garden.
The Corpse Flower is native to Sumatra and its deathly aroma is perfect for attracting pollinating beetles and flies. The 6-year-old specimen about to bloom for the first time is one of four Corpse Flowers (titan arum or amorphophallus titanium) at the Botanic Garden.
“It’s a purely offensive odor of rotting flesh. I think that’s simply the best way to describe it,” said Jim Kelly of Madison, Virginia, who has whiffed the flower before.
The plant stands about 8 feet tall in the steamy greenhouse on the Capitol grounds — a tall, thick, green stalk admired by tourists, who pose kids in front of it or turn to snap selfies with the exotic plant.
The flower also provides one of nature’s perfect contradictions — something that smells so awful, but blossoms so beautifully.
“It is very, very attractive. The spathe, or skirt, is a brilliant maroon on the inside … think of a flamenco dancer’s skirt turned upside down,” said Brethauer.
The Corpse Flower was expected to bloom Sunday night but it did not.
