‘Like day old vomit’: Sydney corpse flower to bloom
A rare and massive flower, which when it unfurls smells like wet socks and cat vomit, is set to go on display in Sydney on the weekend.
A rare and incredibly odd flower that smells of rotting flesh is set to unleash its fetid stench on Sydneysiders this weekend.
The Amorphophallus titanium plant, or Bunga Bangkai – which in Indonesian translates to “corpse flower” – only unfurls its petals every few years and then for around a mere 24 hours.
Which is a good job really as its odour is a heady mix of wet socks and cat sick.
But the Bunga Bangkai is also known for its huge size, holding the record for this biggest flower in the world.
At some point between Friday and Monday, a corpse flower at the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG) in Sydney, is set to stink out the CBD.
Everyone’s invited to come to the gardens and have a sniff.
The RBG has several Bunga Bangkai at different stages of growth in its greenhouse. But one in bloom is a rare event.
“A few days ago horticulturalists working in the glasshouse noticed the initial clues that one might be entering the flowering stage,” the RBG said in a statement.
“Daily measurements and close observation began, and due to vital information sharing from other botanic gardens across the world about Amorphophallus titanium blooming patterns, the team can now confirm that we are likely to have a stinky inflorescence in the next few days”.
Botanists have seen that the spadix, the spike in the centre of the plant, is in a growth spurt.
Overnight in Thursday it grew a massive 13cm.
When the spadix stops growing the spathe, a sheath that surrounds it and resembles huge petals, will unfurl releasing the wretch-inducing waft.
‘Wet socks, day old vomit’
“If you’ve got some wet teenage socks, throw that into a blender, then you get some cat food you’ve left out in the sun, whack that in your blender, and then get some day old vomit,” remarked Paul Nicholson, manager of the RBG’s volunteer programs.
“Put that in the blender, blend it all up, and rip the lid off. That’s the kind of smell you’re getting.”
But, he added: “It’s actually stunningly beautiful as well.”
There is a good reason for the stink. The plant looks to attract carrion-eating beetles and flesh flies which pollinate the flowers within the spathe. The smell can be detected by these insects more than a kilometre away.
The deep red of the spathe also mimics meat, tricking the insects into thinking they are landing on flesh.
The bloom is currently hidden away. But when the flowering begins the RBG will put the corpse flower on public display.
Entry will be by donation and the flower will remain on display until midnight on bloom day.
There is also a live stream – on right now – for those who can’t visit the gardens. Sadly it won’t be in smell-a-vision.
Several botanic gardens across the country have the flower in their collections.
In November, thousands of people visited the Geelong Botanic Garden to see its Amorphophallus titanium open.
Ms Reissinger said the plant originates from the Indonesian island of Sumatra and there were less than 1000 corpse plants in the wild.
Geelong Botanic Garden co-ordinator Kellee Reissinger said it took 10 years for the plant to build up enough energy to flower, which involved creating all its colours and appendages.
“When the flower starts to grow it looks like a leaf, so we’ve only known about this flower for two weeks and the countdown was on,” she said.
“Tuesday was when it started flowering, it got to a size of 1.5m, which is small for this plant but still incredibly big, and that’s when it started to emit a very strong smell of rotting carcass.”
The plant originates from the Indonesian island of Sumatra and there are less than 1000 corpse plants in the wild.