The Giant Corpse Flower

While many people were attending Independence Day festivities this Saturday and getting ready for some fireworks displays, San Francisco State celebrated its own little wallop, right in the campus greenhouse -- the resident Corpse Flower had finally bloomed.

Titan Arum, more commonly known as the Corpse Flower, or Corpse Plant, is a giant exotic plant that grows in the rainforest in Sumatra, Indonesia. Although this unusual plant hails from the same family as that of the Calla Lilies, it has many attributes that clearly distinguish the two. For one, it can grow 8 to 10 feet tall, can take 3 years to produce a single flower, and generally blooms for only 24 to 48 hours.

In its dormant state, the plant's nutrients are all concentrated into an underground tuber that remains inactive until proper conditions are met.

There are currently only five Corpse Flowers in California. When the incredible opportunity came up to see one of these rare plants, we did not hesitate. San Francisco State University had one that was set to bloom in any day. They offered tours to their greenhouse to view this possibly once in a lifetime event.

This particular 42 inch specimen took 14 years to get to its present state and was decidedly not blooming the first day we visited. The greenhouse manager, however, did pass around a small succulent that had a similar odor that was 10 times less than that produced by the Corpse Flower. I took a whiff of it and thought it smelled like mildewed laundry. He said it smelled differently to different people.

Once in full bloom, the flower reveals a bright red petal and releases a deathly scent that attracts carrion flies. These insects convene onto the plant and help carry its pollen to another flower that grows, in its natural environment, perhaps 3 miles away. This apparently ensures a much more varied offspring that will be better adapted to the environment and more capable of combating parasites, as opposed to self-pollinated plants, which produce an exact duplicate, and hence, exact weaknesses.

Outside the greenhouse was a booth selling various Titan Arum paraphernalia. For $1, you could buy a raffle to guess the correct blooming time. Winner gets an exotic plant. This gelatin-like dish was made from the Corpse Plant and served with a bit of soy sauce. Sorry to say, we were not brave enough to try it.

The manager of this greenhouse probably had no idea that he was going to be bombarded with question after question that afternoon by a group of knowledge hungry 6 to 10 year olds. Thankfully, he was very patient and told us all there was to know about every flower within reach, including the workings of this impressive pitcher plant. Did you know there are glands at the "umbrella" leaves that intoxicates bugs and gets them into the pitcher? It was quite a fascinating discussion and we now have a deeper appreciation for these carnivorous wonders.

After the lengthy presentation on the Corpse Plant, we were invited to look around the rest of the greenhouse, where Zee learned how to distinguish the Euphorbias from your everyday cacti. We left that first day with our interests piqued and eager to return when the plant finally bloomed.

Alas, we couldn't visit the greenhouse until several hours after the blooming. The plant was already starting to close up again and the stench was not as strong -- they even asked visitors to keep the doors closed in order to preserve what was left of the odor. Outside was a survey asking everyone to describe the smell. Along with Zee's response of salted fish, there were many varied descriptions, such as vomit, damp laundry, compost, and coconut. I personally did not notice any foulness in the air. Nevertheless, it was exciting to see and pictures just don't do it justice. If you ever chance to have this flower blooming near you, head on over and take a whiff. You may just smell something stinky.