| The Corpse Flower has bloomed! Did you see it? |
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| The corpse flower as it is closing back up. At it's peak the spathe (the cabbage leaf looking part of the flower) had opened to about 45 degrees. Corpse flowers typically bloom for about 24 hours. It is typical for the flower to open in the evening and be at it's most potent aroma during the night time hours. Their rotting flesh odor attracts flies, sweat bees and other insects which pollinate the flower. |
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How do you know if you are a plant geek?
1. You obsessively check the College of Biological Sciences website all week long for updates on the stinky flower. Check.
2. You watch live video feed for three days waiting to see when the stinky flower actually opens. Check.
3. You drag your entire family out in the Minnesota cold so they can also stand in line (for nearly an hour) to see and smell the glorious corpse flower in all it's awful stink. Check.
4. You actually had "smell a corpse flower in bloom" on your bucket list in the first place. Check.
After much anticipation and local media hype, the Titan arum, or corpse flower, finally bloomed on Sunday evening. For the few of us who were not watching the Superbowl but rather had our computers turned on to the live video link streaming from the U of MN College of Biological Sciences this was very exciting.
Following the Superbowl, a small group of people associated with the College of Biological Services (CBS) got an exclusive look at the corpse flower. Ric Roderick of CBS noted that upon opening the outside door several 100 feet from the enclosed room where the corpse flower is housed, the odor was immediate and potent. "Definitely dead rat," Roderick said.
By Monday morning however much of the odor had dissipated to a point where you actually had to put your nose close to the plant to smell anything. In the photo above you can see a small opening cut near the base of the flower. This was to allow visitors to see the internal structure of the flower and get your nose close enough to smell.
When we arrived at 6:30pm Monday night the corpse flower was starting to close up, but that didn't stop a long continuous line of people from forming. As the CBS conservatory is a relatively small space the line had to snake back and forth through the classroom and down two long hallways before 5 or 6 people at a time were allowed in to view the corpse flower. "We estimate 1,500 people have already been here today," said Roderick "Last week we had 200-500 visitors a day and we thought that was crazy!" |
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 | | Waiting in line to see the Corpse Flower |
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| For us, the line took just under an hour. The conservatory has several different temperate zones, each greenhouse holding a different collection of plants from arid to tropical rain forest. As the line snaked through the hallways everyone had a chance to see the various plants, but the main attraction was of course the corpse flower. Snap a few photos, stick your nose near the opening, make a funny face, done. Definitely worth an hour wait! |
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| By the time we left I guesstimate that another 250 plus had arrived after us. As we were leaving the line at that point was well outside the conservatory building and more were still arriving. I'm sure the people at the end of the line had at least an hour and a half wait time. |
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| What makes 100's of Minnesotans stand in long lines to see and smell a corpse flower? Curiousity? Cabin Fever? Plant Geeky-ness? Maybe all of the above, but if you missed it, it's seven long years before the plant is expected to bloom again. For more information about the U of MN College of Biological Science and the Corpse Flower, including a time lapse video of the bloom, click here. |
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