The corpse flower from the University of Minnesota bloomed after 7 years.
Flowers are and were famed in poetry for their fragility and their distinguishable fragrance. Even Master Shakespeare dedicated a few lines to the delicate rose. But with if the fragile flower instead of spreading around a delicate fragrance manages to offend everyone with a rotting meat odor? A stinky flower blooms in Minnesota, after nearly seven years of inactivity.
The University of Minnesota proudly announced that their titan arum, also known as the corpse flower or the Amorphophallus titanium has bloomed after nearly seven years. To this end, visitors are invited to see the flower and be offended by its stench from Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 3:30 pm.
Imagine the following scenario: it is your first trip to a botanical garden. You look around to see many flowers, each of them emanating enticing odors. Suddenly you sense that something is amiss amid the flowers. By the smell of it, it would seem that someone recently died here and no one lifts a finger to do something.
But, to your amazement, everyone seems calm. And you will soon find out that there’s not a putrid corpse out there, but a “delicate” and malodorous flower that’s giving out that scent.
The titan arum or the corpse flower grows only in the rainforests around Sumatra. Also, the stinky plant can reach a maximum height of 6 feet. And, maybe the most iconic trait of the corpse flower, is its foul, rotting meat-like stench.
Lisa Aston Philander, who works at the Botanical Garden declared that there are in fact festivals centered on the stinky plant. Moreover, it would seem that the flower rarely blooms and when it does, the results are quite visible, so to speak.
The curator also explained that over a whole year, the plant is capable of producing a single leaf. And it seems that the leaf dies once the plant harvests the energy needed to survive. During this time, the flower emerges, and once it does, the whole plant begins to spread its scent into the air.
A stinky flower blooms in Minnesota, spreading a corpse-like smell into the air. Also, according to the curator’s explanations, the plant is also capable of using temperature in order to volatilize the aroma. And, as the days go by, the flower’s scent begins to change.
We should also point out the fact that the flower’s putrid scent is not made to make us seek the nearest toilet. The scent actually plays a key role in the flower’s pollination process. According to the scientists, the titan arum’s main pollinator, which is the sweat bee, can detect the plant’s odor from miles.
Photo credits:www.wikipedia.org
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