Alice, one of the Chicago Botanic Gardens’ eight titan arums or corpse flowers, bloomed overnight and is available for the public to see and smell.
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And there were plenty of those; according to local reports, thousands of curiosity seekers and enthusiasts were lined up in the garden, waiting to catch a rare glimpse of the 4 feet-tall (1.4-meters) full bloom.
A remains flower, also famous as Amorphophallus titanum or Titan Arum, gets a name interjection to a sharp odor, that resembles a rotting animal.
Chicago’s titan arum – dubbed Alice by the experts – is pale-green with a dark red bloom around the bottom, and it was rather a surprise for the experts following its evolution. Spike, another one of the botanic garden’s corpse flowers, failed to bloom in August, disappointing anxious visitors hoping to take in its stench.
“Given that titan arums are notably unpredictable flowering plants (and we should know!), we wanted to be sure that she would bloom before we announced her debut”.
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Alice can take about 10 years to reach the size needed to support a bloom. Those who can’t make it to Chicago at the last minute can watch the flower live on YouTube. Tim Pollak, horticulturist at the Garden, said “The flower is opening up as we speak, so it still has a little more time”.
