Geelong corpse flower: Thousands flock to botanic gardens for a whiff
Thousands of amateur botanists have shuffled through the greenhouse at Geelong Botanic Gardens to see the rare corpse flower in bloom and cop a whiff of its “meaty” scent. WATCH THE VIDEO
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Corpse flower mania has reached fever pitch in Geelong, with punters coming from interstate and waiting upwards of four hours to catch a whiff of the rare plant.
The line at the botanic gardens on Tuesday morning was stretching well out the front gate, featuring a diverse range of people from young children on unofficial excursions with parents to local workers pulling sickies.
Claudia Kranz and Peyton Atherton, from Adelaide, weren’t disappointed.
Ms Atherton described the flower’s smell as “abattoir-y, meaty, but not necessarily rotting”.
“(It smelt) more like a cutting room,” she said.
“That kind of fresh, cut meat smell.
“It’s not to bad when you first walk in (to the greenhouse), it’s more when the breeze hits it and you’re walking past.
“It’s pretty bad.”
Lilian Hudson got up at 5am on Tuesday to catch the train from Melbourne.
“I tried to beat the crowds,” Ms Hudson said.
“It only took me, all in all with the waiting, about five hours since I got up.”
Ms Hundson said it was “absolutely” worth the wait.
“It didn’t stink as bad as it apparently did last night, but hey, still great to see it,” she said.
Those toward the front of the line on Tuesday said the wait was about an hour and a half, but the evening before it had ballooned out to over four hours for some visitors.
One punter said he and his family timed their wait to be four hours and 11 minutes exactly.
“Everyone in the queue were having a blast, chatting and joking around, not a word of complaint,” he said.
“We were with people who had travelled from as far as Cranbourne East, lots of kids asleep in parents’ arms by the end.
“There was definitely a smell just outside the conservatory when it mixed with the fresh air but not that strong inside.
“When we left at midnight the queue still stretched for ages.”
Other people shuffled through in the early hours of the morning with much shorter waits.
The livestream of the flower showed a full greenhouse all throughout the night.
The corpse flower started opening on Monday, but could be closed again by Wednesday morning.
This rare bloom lasts only 24 to 48 hours.
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Originally published as Geelong corpse flower: Thousands flock to botanic gardens for a whiff
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