Geelong’s corpse flower closing after frenzied couple of days

The rare bloom of a corpse flower at the Geelong Botanic Gardens attracted visitors from around Australia.

The corpse flower in full bloom at the Geelong Botanic Gardens on Tuesday. Picture: Alison Wynd

The rare bloom of a corpse flower at Geelong Botanic Gardens attracted more than 20,000 visitors.

During “Betsy” the flower’s first bloom, the gardens welcomed visitors from as far as Alice Springs, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.

The conservatory stayed open 24 hours during the bloom, and will return to its usual opening hours of 9am to 4pm on Saturday.

Geelong council’s livestream of the flower attracted more than 350,000 views from around Australia and the world.

The livestream will be available to watch online until the plant collapses and goes into dormancy.

It will restart the process of storing energy until it has enough to produce another flower, which may take another seven to 10 years.

The titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) — commonly known as the corpse flower or corpse plant — is famous for a distinctive odour, akin to rotting flesh, when it blooms.

City of Greater Geelong chief executive Ali Wastie said it was amazing to see so many people interested in seeing the corpse flower.

“Thank you to everyone who braved the long lines to see the titan arum in bloom and thank you for everyone’s patience and behaviour as the amazing Geelong Botanic Gardens team worked around-the-clock to manage the thousands of visitors,” Ms Wastie said.

Geelong Botanic Gardens co-ordinator Kellee Reissinger said once the corpse plant started blooming, the lines didn’t stop.

“I am overwhelmed by the turnout of people that came to have a look, and the dedication to wait through the night to smell our corpse flower during its short bloom,” she said.

EARLIER: Betsy’s bloom coming to an end

Geelong’s corpse flower is closing.

After an exciting and stinky couple of days, the blooming of the plant affectionately known as Betsy is coming to an end.

The corpse flower is closing but there is still a steady stream of visitors taking a look. Picture: Alan Barber

The flowers was still slightly open on Wednesday morning, with the greenhouse at Geelong Botanic Gardens unusually empty compared to the days prior.

The buzz began late last week, when a livestream set up by council garnered hundreds of viewers.

The Corpse Flower had closed significantly on Wednesday.

Compared to Tuesday. Picture: City of Greater Geelong

The excitement well and truly ramped up on Monday morning as Betsy began to open with people flocking from near and far to see the rare flower.

The line quickly stretched hundreds of metres along Eastern Park circuit and persisted all throughout the night, with the flower’s meaty stench at its most pungent around midnight.

Thousands of people have filtered through the Geelong Botanic Gardens in the days since.

Gardens co-ordinator Kellee Reissinger said she’s been “blown away” by the community response.

“Everyone has been so respectful and engaging, I’ve had the best conversations,” Ms Reissinger said.

People queue to see The corpse flower in Geelongs Botanical Gardens

She put the community interest down to the size of the flower.

“I think has humans we’re obsessed with big things, big buildings, big bridges, big flowers,” Ms Reissinger said.

“It’s not what we see every day, it’s something really unique.

“For the livestream to go all over the world, it warms my heart because it proves that people are really interested, and we just need that connection.”

Ms Reissinger only figured out Betsy would bloom a fortnight before it opened.

The flower will now likely wilt over the next couple of days.

It’s unknown when Betsy will bloom again — some plants flower every two to three years, but other can take up to 10.

Originally published as Geelong’s corpse flower closing after frenzied couple of days