It's sweaty, smelly season again at the Huntington Library, Art Gallery and Botanical Gardens. One of its rare corpse flowers is about to bloom, in all its putrefaction. Over the next 10 to 12 days, visitors are expected to line up to enter the Huntington's sauna-like viewing area in San Marino to smell this gigantic, fantastical tropical plant.
Corpse flowers (Amorphophallus titanum) are native to the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, so they like it warm and steamy. They also bloom once every four to six years in the wild for just 24 hours before they begin to close up again, so windows to see them are short and rare.
If you can't see this one in person, you're in luck. The Huntington has 43 corpse flowers in its collection, which spend most of their time in a greenhouse away from public view. Over time, the staff has developed ways to get the plants to bloom every two or three years, said Brandon Tam, associate curator of the Huntington's orchid (and corpse flower) collection. With so many plants, there are typically a few primed to bloom each year.
In 2023, for example, four Huntington plants bloomed between July and October, Tam said. And one of those that bloomed last year, named Stankosaurus Rex for its massive 8-foot height, is now bearing fruit, making it look like a tall, upright mace covered in plump crimson orbs.
The Huntington has had many corpse flowers since its first display in 1999, and has used the seeds from those fruits to grow new plants for its collection and for other botanical gardens that want their own corpse flowers. But this is the first time the Huntington has been able to display a flowering plant next to one that is bearing fruit, Tam said.
Curator Brandon Tam stands next to a blooming corpse flower in 2023 that was named Allan after Ken's best friend from last year's popular “Barbie” movie.
(The Huntington Library, Museum of Art and Botanical Gardens)
The flower's fruit is the rhinoceros hornbill's favorite food, but it's toxic to humans, Tam said, so don't try to taste it. Also, the flower is pollinated by insects attracted to its rotten smell, “usually sweat bees, flesh flies and carrion beetles that enjoy the pungent odor,” she said.
Pollinators are typically insects that seek out decaying animal carcasses to lay eggs on, Tam said, “so they're looking for smelly things. The flower is trying to mimic that smell of a carcass, and the whole base is a deep maroon red to mimic the bloody carcasses of dead animals. The plants are fascinating, especially this one.”
As for the flower’s stench — or rather, its “fragrance” — some people compare it to rotting meat or smelly gym socks, but it seems to change depending on the sniffer, said Keisha Raines, the communications associate at Huntington. “To me, it smells like a really rundown trash can with a strong cabbage odor,” she said. “I worked at a vegetarian restaurant in high school, and that flower smells like the trash that was there the day before it was picked.”
Tam believes the flower will bloom in the next 10 to 12 days. It's difficult to predict precisely when, she said, because its bloom is affected by the weather. “The warmer it is, the faster it blooms.” (If you want to see a bloom now, the Huntington's website features a timeline of the 2022 bloom.)
Close-up detail of a closed corpse flower before it blooms. (Huntington Library, Museum of Art and Botanical Garden)
The deep maroon skirt of a blooming corpse flower mimics the color of rotting flesh, part of its strategy, along with its putrid “fragrance,” to attract carrion-loving pollinators. (Linnea Stephan / Huntington Library, Museum of Art and Botanical Gardens)
Corpse flowers bloom for only 24 hours, which is why their blooms always draw a crowd like this one in Huntington in 2023.
(The Huntington Library, Museum of Art and Botanical Gardens)
Typically corpse plants bloom at night, but Huntington's social media team will send out updates and alerts as the date approaches, Tam said. You can also watch the flower's progress on a live webcam and a daily growth graph. When blooming seems imminent, go online to get your ticket and arrive as early in the morning as you can.
The Huntington is open Wednesday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed on Tuesdays. (Tam said he's pretty sure this flower won't bloom on a Tuesday.)
If that suspense isn’t enough, Huntington is also asking the public to help name this year’s first blooming corpse plant. One of last year’s plants was named “Allan the Amorphophallus,” after Allan from the popular movie “Barbie,” Raines said. (Allan is Ken’s awkward best friend, which seemed appropriate for an adorable stinky plant, “and we were in a very Barbie state of mind last year,” she said.)
People should post name ideas on Huntington’s Instagram page, keep an eye on its social media and bring a fan to visit the corpse flower in person. That’s because it’s so hot and steamy inside the greenhouse, Tam said, to the point that people are taking walks outside for some relief. Since high temperatures in Huntington are forecast to drop from the 90s next week to the mid-80s, that could be a boon for visitors.
