Rare 'Corpse Flower' Blooms At New York Botanical Gardens

THE BRONX, NY — Crowds were heavy at New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx Tuesday evening, when visitors lined up to catch the rare and foul-smelling corpse flower, which takes years to develop, in all its glory before it withers again in one short day.

The enormous flower, Amorphophallus titanum or titan arum, is native to the island of Sumatra in western Indonesia, but New Yorkers were given a chance to see the flower at peak bloom in the gardens' Enid A. Haupt Conservatory Tuesday after it began to open its petals around 9 p.m. Monday.

The flowers are known for their massive size, unusual shape, and pungent scent during bloom, which many describe as being similar to that of rotting meat. The plant's spike, which protrudes between its petals, can reach as high as 12 feet and the plant can grow to weigh well over 100 pounds.

Titan arums can take seven to 10 years to form flower buds, but when they do bloom, the flower typically unfurls over the course of about 24 to 36 hours before withering and dying.

The New York Botanical Gardens received its first corpse flower in 1932. The plant was placed in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory but did not bloom until May 1937, when the conservatory was "mobbed with news photographers and newsreel cameramen," the Gardens writes on its website.

The NYBG received its second plant in 1935, and it bloomed in July 1939. Bronx Borough President James J. Lyons commemorated the event by designating Amorphophallus titanum as the official flower of the Bronx on July 5, saying “Its tremendous size shall be symbolic of the large and fastest growing borough in the City of New York," according to the NYBG. The official flower of the Bronx was replaced with the day lily in 2000.

NYBG has a number of Amorphophallus titanum that are old enough to bloom, some of which are siblings of the plants that have bloomed in recent years, but it is difficult to predict when exactly they will blossom.

The 2016 plant attracted more than 25,000 visitors to smell the bloom in person and nearly two million views of its progress on a live online video feed, according to the NYBG.

"I keep telling my friends that my days have been centered on this flower and when it will bloom," NYBG Associate Manager of Public Relations Patricia Sullivan said as she walked through the gardens. Experts at the NYBG can predict around when the corpse flowers will bloom, but as for the exact day and hour, Sullivan says employees don't know until the petals begin to open and visitors go wild.