Video: Everyone loves a good corpse flower blossom. These giant plants mostly remain dormant and only sprout flowers once every four to five years.
The one in the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is about to bloom for the first time since 1939. According to the NYBG, the flower has already started to open, and will bloom for around 24 to 36 hours. Saturday, July 30, is the best time to see the flower, which will go dormant again for another few years.
Just be glad that when it does bloom, you won’t be there to smell it. After all, the name “corpse flower” is more of a symbol of what the plant smells like. It apparently smells like rotting flesh. This is to attract the appropriate pollinators.
Oh Mother Nature. You have a sick sense of humour.
Apparently, so do scientists. The scientific name for the plant is Amorphophallus titanum, which means misshapen giant phallus. Insert your own penis joke here.