The rare corpse flower, renowned for its putrid scent and fleeting bloom, has drawn thousands of fascinated spectators to the New York Botanical Garden, coinciding with the Halloween season.
Crowds queued for hours to experience the unique spectacle of the Amorphophallus titanum. This giant bloom, native to Sumatra, Indonesia, is among the world’s largest flowers.
Its distinct smell, often compared to rotting flesh or a decomposing corpse, attracts pollinating flies and carrion beetles from dozens of yards away. This characteristic gives the plant its common name.
Despite its repulsive odor, the flower’s allure stems from its extreme rarity and unpredictable bloom cycle. Each specimen flowers for a mere 24 to 48 hours, an event that cannot be foreseen.
This unpredictability creates a rush among botanical enthusiasts to witness the rare occurrence. The New York Botanical Garden offered a live stream of the blossoming plant for a global audience, urging visitors to experience it before it closed.
A garden caretaker explained that the flower requires years to store energy in its large underground corm. It blooms only once before re-entering a long dormancy, making each event particularly special.
The corpse flower is a significant botanical highlight worldwide, consistently attracting visitors eager to see its unusual appearance, smell, and short-lived splendor.