A giant endangered “corpse flower” that got its nickname from its putrid smell started to bloom on Friday for the first time since 2011.
Named Morphy, the titan arum housed at Dartmouth College began opening on Friday afternoon at the Ivy League college’s life sciences greenhouse. The 7 ½-foot (2.3-metre) flower is expected to be fully open on Saturday before it starts to collapse the next day.
The college in New Hampshire has even set up a webcam to enable people to monitor its progress.
Morphy has a long pointy stalk with a skirt-like covering. It’s green on the outside and deep red on the inside when it opens.
Kim DeLong, the greenhouse manager at Dartmouth, said Morphy was starting to smell like a burning cigar on Friday afternoon. At full strength, its odor has been described as a cross between a decaying animal and urine.
DeLong said she was planning to pollinate the flower on Saturday, using two necrophiliacs.
“Way down on the bottom, we’re going to cut a hole. It’s not going to hurt the plant. And then..."
More
Thought you guys might want to know...
