Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens
1151 Oxford Rd
626.405.2100
This event has passed.
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Corpse Flower
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- When
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June 4, 2010 – June 13, 2010
Daily (10:30am–4:30pm)
- Where
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- Price
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$15
- Links
“Every few years the giant corpse flower (Amorphophallus Titanium) blooms into an elegant, impressive flora, and smells like a rotting corpse. This rare treat is literally happening right now at the Huntington Gardens, and the spectacle will be over in a matter of mere days. The internet doesn't have scratch-and-sniff technology yet, but you can watch a time-lapse video of the 1999 flowering that made headlines around the world and imagine the aroma, or follow Stinky, as the Garden's staff calls the darling thing, on its very own blog, updated daily.”
Kenneth Hughes, Flavorpill
The Huntington says:
Amorphophallus titanum The Titan Arum or "Corpse Flower" Native to the equatorial rain forests of Sumatra, the Amorphophallus titanum, or Titan Arum, can reach more than 6 feet in height when it blooms, opening to a diameter of 3–4 feet. But the plant is perhaps most famous—or infamous—for its exceptionally foul odor. Hence the nickname, Corpse Flower. Why all the excitement? A Titan Arum in bloom is as rare as it is spectacular. A plant can go for many years without flowering, and when it does the bloom lasts only one or two days. Some people travel around the world hoping to see a Titan at the moment it flowers. For botanists and the public, being "in the right place at the right time" to see one of these magnificent plants in bloom can be a once-in-a-lifetime treat. This is only the fourth time a Titan Arum has bloomed at The Huntington. The Huntington’s First "Big Stinky" in 1999 In the summer of 1999, The Huntington was the focus of world-wide attention when it exhibited the first Amorphophallus titanum ever to bloom in California. It was only the 11th recorded bloom of one of these plants in the United States. During its short bloom, Huntington botanists hand-pollinated the plant with its own pollen, using an experimental technique (self-pollination is normally impossible). The procedure was a success resulting in fruit and 10 fertile seeds from which several seedlings eventually were produced.
