Corpse Flower Set to Bloom

And, mere weeks after UC Berkeley’s smelly plant blossomed, the Denver Botanic Garden’s flower has opened.

This is despite the fact that, true to its name, the flower doesn’t exactly smell pretty.

“The plant’s scientific name, Amorphophallus titanum, means ‘giant, misshapen penis, ‘ hinting at the appearance of this weird plant”, the website said.

Denver Botanic Garden officials said “Stinky” as it came to be known was the first corpse flower to bloom in the Rocky Mountain region.

All the same, there are people who waited in line for up to 3 hours just to take a whiff.

The corpse flower is native to Sumatra, Indonesia, and will emit a rather foul stench for a couple of days during its bloom, all to attract this, the Carrion Beetle, its primary pollinator. The scent is mild nearby, but stronger in back of the greenhouse where fans are pulling air into the outdoors.

The Denver Botanic Gardens received the flower as a gift some time ago, in 2007.

9 News reported people were still lining up to see the flower Thursday morning, even though it had begun to close.