Unspeakably stinky and unpredictable: two corpse flowers are blooming in the U.S.

[usonian]

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/06/1186289347/corpse-flower-bloom-california-where-to-see-livestream-san-diego-francisco

One is at San Francisco's Conservatory of Flowers, while the other is at the San Diego Botanic Gardens.

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The Titan Arum, or corpse flower, has become a rockstar in the plant world for its unpredictable displays, and more notoriously, its putrid stench of rotting flesh.

What is it? The very large flowering plant is related to the calla lily, and in fact looks like a supersized and more macabre version, with a large central spike surrounded by a frilly maroon skirt of a leaf.

The Titan Arum is native only to the Indonesian island of Sumatra, but has become even more difficult to see in the wild due to habitat loss. In the last few decades, advances in technology and horticultural knowledge have allowed botanical gardens to cultivate the corpse flower more widely.

If you're not familiar with why the flower has its distinctive name – when the corpse flower unfurls, tiny male and female flowers at the base of its large central spike emit a putrid odor, akin to rotting meat and stinky laundry.