Crowds sniff out best time to see the corpse flower bloom
Source: Agencies |
July 25, 2013, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FOR weeks, visitors have been lining up at the US Botanic Garden, hoping to be among the lucky ones to catch the show when a giant-sized corpse flower blooms for the first time in seven years.
Its legendary stench was part of the attraction.
When the 2.4-meter Titan Arum plant finally began opening its petals this week, a smell almost strong enough to stop traffic lured tourists inside.
Since it went on display on July 11, the corpse flower has attracted over 120,000 visitors, about a 10th of the garden's annual number in less than two weeks.
It proved to be an unexpected hit during Washington's summer tourist season. Visitors tried to inch close enough to get a whiff of a terrible smell that in the natural world attracts carrion eaters like dung beetles and flies.
The Botanic Garden's Laura Condeluci said the smell was fading but the flower had attracted so much attention, it was continuing to draw the crowds.
On social media, the flower - nicknamed Mortimer - chronicled its celebrity visitors on a Twitter feed.
"As of this afternoon, both @DarrellIssa and @jaredpolis will have visited me," Mortimer tweeted, referring to a California Republican and a Colorado Democrat in the House of Representatives. "I have brought bipartisanship to DC. Almost time to retire."
Mortimer bloomed on Instagram, with #corpseflower a popular hashtag.
There was live streaming video at http://www.usbg.gov/return-titan ("Due to high traffic, you may experience some difficulty with the web stream," the Botanic Garden warned.)
Condeluci said the Titan Arum looks for pollinators in the evening, emitting heat and a smell of rotting flesh as the sun starts to fade. The smell, which dissipates in the daytime, generally lasts 24 to 48 hours.
"The heat helps generate the scent upward ... (so) that something up to maybe a mile away will smell it and come running," she said.
Its legendary stench was part of the attraction.
When the 2.4-meter Titan Arum plant finally began opening its petals this week, a smell almost strong enough to stop traffic lured tourists inside.
Since it went on display on July 11, the corpse flower has attracted over 120,000 visitors, about a 10th of the garden's annual number in less than two weeks.
It proved to be an unexpected hit during Washington's summer tourist season. Visitors tried to inch close enough to get a whiff of a terrible smell that in the natural world attracts carrion eaters like dung beetles and flies.
The Botanic Garden's Laura Condeluci said the smell was fading but the flower had attracted so much attention, it was continuing to draw the crowds.
On social media, the flower - nicknamed Mortimer - chronicled its celebrity visitors on a Twitter feed.
"As of this afternoon, both @DarrellIssa and @jaredpolis will have visited me," Mortimer tweeted, referring to a California Republican and a Colorado Democrat in the House of Representatives. "I have brought bipartisanship to DC. Almost time to retire."
Mortimer bloomed on Instagram, with #corpseflower a popular hashtag.
There was live streaming video at http://www.usbg.gov/return-titan ("Due to high traffic, you may experience some difficulty with the web stream," the Botanic Garden warned.)
Condeluci said the Titan Arum looks for pollinators in the evening, emitting heat and a smell of rotting flesh as the sun starts to fade. The smell, which dissipates in the daytime, generally lasts 24 to 48 hours.
"The heat helps generate the scent upward ... (so) that something up to maybe a mile away will smell it and come running," she said.
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