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Waiting For Stinky: Crowds Flock To NY Botanical Garden For Still-Unbloomed Corpse Flower
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 25, 2016
Modified Jul 25, 2016
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 25, 2016
Modified Jul 25, 2016
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Crowds flocked to the New York Botanical Garden this weekend in hopes of seeing the Amorphophallus titanum flower transform into its magnificent, stinky form after being coddled and nursed for 10 years. However, nature refused to cooperate with everyone's schedule and the corpse flower refused to open.
The NYBG has a livecam of the plant in the Enid Haupt Conservatory, and has been updating the public as best it can on its social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). A statement on the NYBG website explained, "After a weekend of anticipation, the high temperatures in New York did not impact the Corpse Flower's growth as our experts anticipated. The plant is still progressing, but its bloom remains difficult to predict."
Photographer Sai Mokhtari, who was at the conservatory yesterday, tells us that the explanations weren't enough for a "few really entitled millennials (sorry but so true), who were acting offended that the thing didn't bloom for them." They weren't offended by the smell though, as it won't permeate the room until it opens. National Geographic tried to describe the smell that awaits visitors:
To humans, the corpse flower is one of the world's stinkiest plants. But to dung beetles and flies, it smells like opportunity. "It makes them think there's rotten meat somewhere to lay their eggs, and then that helps the corpse flower to get pollinated," [said] Mo Fayyaz, the greenhouse and garden director at the University of Wisconsin's department of botany...
Its distinctive perfume comes from a number of different molecules that smell bad on their own, and that together draws flies, beetles, and people to the plant’s cup-like bloom. One of these, timethylamine, smells like rotting fish. Another, isovaleric acid, is the cheesy, sweaty odor responsible for terrible gym sock smells.
Ahh, perfect for our heat wave—flora that finally captures that essence of garbage wind.
One NYBG staffer told the Post that employees were "told to put Vicks in our nose if we think the smell will bother us." And we hear that workers may also use masks, and rotate their shifts more frequently so no one has to be with the smell for too long.
Watch the livestream—the corpse flower will open for up to 36 hours and then shrivel up...
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corpse flower
new york botanical garden
nybg
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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