Just as our February blizzard was getting started on Tuesday I stopped by the University of Minnesota College of BioScience Conservatory to take a look at the Corpse Flower, Titan arum as it is about to bloom. (Sidenote: I used to manage this very greenhouse when I was a Grad student at the U).
I wasn't alone. Despite the wintery weather outside there was a continuous stream of people coming in to view the plant. According to Lisa Aston Philander, curator of the Conservatory, she estimated at least 200 people had been in to visit the plant and the Conservatory in the first day and half of this week compared to a typical 2 or 3 visitors on a normal week.

• Titan arum is a highly endemic plant meaning that they are only found in relatively small, restricted geographic areas. It is native solely to western Sumatra where it grows in openings in the rain forest.
• Titan arum belongs to the plant family Araceae and is related to the Minnesota spring flowering Jack-in-the-Pulpit.
• The open blooms produce an odor that resembles rotting flesh. It is pollinated by flies, carrion beetles and sweat bees.