July 1, 2001
Image shows “corpse flower” as it nears blooming
A giant “corpse flower,” native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra, is inching closer to blooming in the University of Washington botany greenhouse. The event is expected to occur within the next several days.
It will be the 10th time this century that the rare Amorphophallus titanum plant has bloomed in the United States and the first time west of Missouri.
The flower has grown rapidly in the last several days and now is more than 5 feet tall. In the first day of blooming, it will smell like rotting flesh. The bloom is likely to last only a couple of days, though it could last three or four.
The plant can be seen through windows at the southeast end of the greenhouse, near 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Pacific Street. The greenhouse is between the Burke-Gilman Trail and Stevens Way on the main UW campus.
