(Screenshot from Chicago Botanic Garden YouTube video)
Plant lovers in the Windy City are enjoying the rare phenomenon of a corpse flower in bloom. One of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s eight corpse flowers, dubbed Alice, began blooming late on Monday, much to the surprise of horticulturalists.
The Chicago Tribune reports that the 55-inch flower is now stinking up the Garden’s semitropical greenhouse.
A corpse flower, also known as Amorphophallus titanum or Titan Arum, gets its name thanks to its pungent odor, which resembles a rotting animal.
“Head to the Garden now to see (and smell!) the extremely rare phenomenon of a corpse flower in full bloom,” declared the Chicago Botanic Garden on its website. “Given that titan arums are notably unpredictable flowering plants (and we should know!), we wanted to be sure that she would bloom before we announced her debut. We appreciate your patience!”
The Chicago Tribune reports that Spike, another Chicago Botanic Garden corpse flower, failed to bloom amid much publicity last month.
“Alice the Amorphophallus, a sibling of Spike, surprised us all,” said the Botanic Garden, on its website.
The Chicago Botanic Garden will stay open until 2 a.m. for “peak bloom viewing” the website explained.
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