Credit: New York Botanical Garden
A rare corpse flower is set to bloom at the New York Botanical Garden, just in time for Halloween. The notorious flower, “Amorphophallus gigas,” gets its name from the rotting-flesh odor it emits. It blooms every three to five years for just three days, with its distinctive scent reaching its peak during that brief window. The bloom is expected in about two weeks in the garden’s Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
Native to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, the first time the corpse flower bloomed in the Western Hemisphere was at the NYBG in 1937. Its bloom cycle is extremely fast, and there is no way to predict the exact moment it will open. Blooming around Halloween is especially rare, offering a unique chance to see the flower in its full glory.
The flower features a central spike, called a spadix, with small flowers arranged in rings at its base. In its natural habitat, the spadix can reach up to 12 feet tall, while in cultivation it typically grows six to eight feet, as 6sqft previously reported.
The spadix is surrounded by a petal-shaped leaf called the spathe, which unfurls to reveal the flowers when the plant is ready to bloom. The corpse flower does not bloom annually; it only flowers when its underground stem, or corm, has accumulated enough energy. Young plants can take up to 10 years before their first bloom.
When fully in bloom, the flower gives off a smell likened to that of rotting meat, with the purpose of attracting pollinators that feed on dead animals.
After the first corpse flower bloomed in the Western Hemisphere at NYBG in 1937, the next followed in 1939. The garden didn’t see another bloom until 2016, which drew 25,000 visitors in person and garnered two million views on a live video feed, according to the NYBG.
If you can’t make it to the garden in person, there’s a live stream of the corpse flower on YouTube:
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