Stop and smell the rotting flesh? Rare corpse flower plant is blooming at Cal Poly
A towering flower is about to make a big stink on the Cal Poly campus.
For the first time in Cal Poly history, an Amorphophallus titanum — also known as a titan arum, or, corpse flower plant — is set to bloom at the San Luis Obispo university, according to a Monday news release.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see and smell one of the world’s wonders right here in San Luis Obispo,” Cal Poly associate botany professor Jenn Yost said in the release.
Known for their powerful scent, which is said to resemble that of a rotting carcass, corpse flowers are native to the equatorial rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia.
The corpse flower plant grows slowly from an underground stem, sending up just one large leaf a year.
After about a decade, the plant produces a “huge maroon funnel, called the spathe, with tiny flowers on a huge spike” measuring up to 10 feet tall and four feet in diameter, the release said. In fact, the titan arum holds the world record for the largest infloresence, or, unbranched cluster of flowers arranged on a stem.
To attract the insects that pollinate the plant, the spathe sends out a foul aroma similar to that of decaying flesh, the release said.
The blooms are open for only two days, so it’s rare to catch one in action.
A corpse flower plant named Fester bloomed at Franklin Park Zoo in Boston in June, and a plant called Mr. Stinky filled the Northwestern State University campus in Louisiana with its stench about a week ago.
According to Gage Willey, curator of the Cal Poly Plant Conservatory, the university’s horticulture unit received four titan arum plants from Cuesta College in 2016. He’s helped care for the corpse flowers since then.
“Finally, we were graced with a flower!” Willey wrote in an email.
Willey noted that the corpse flower plant that’s about to bloom, nicknamed Musty, germinated in 2015, so it’ll have a smaller bloom than an older plant. “The next one we get should be truly massive!” Willey wrote.
Musty’s bloom began to open on Thursday, Yost said.
Members of the public are invited to view the bloom from 4 to 9 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Tropical House, adjacent to the Poly Plant Shop off Via Carta. Parking is available in Lot H14.
Masks and physical distancing are required, Cal Poly said, and only one household can visit the plant at a time.
The corpse flower plant can also be viewed via livestream at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAsVqB6JJJ7V9Azpa6Cp3EQ.
Check the College of Science and Mathematics Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pg/calpolyscience/events for updates on the flower’s progress.
This story was originally published July 6, 2020 at 11:25 AM with the headline "Stop and smell the rotting flesh? Rare corpse flower plant is blooming at Cal Poly."
