World’s ‘Smelliest Plant’ at Kew Gardens Continues To Turn Heads After It Bloomed Earlier This Month

Amorphophallus titanum, dubbed the "world's smelliest plant," bloomed earlier this month, and visitors wanted to see it at London's Kew Gardens despite its scent.

World's Smelliest Plant

Amorphophallus titanum or titan arum is a must-see for botany fans visiting the Kew Gardens. It usually flowers once every ten years after conserving energy for years in an underground stem base known as a corm to power the building of its massive inflorescence.

It reaches a height of three meters (9.8 feet) and is the largest unbranched bloom in the world in the true sense. However, one has to hold one's breath when coming near a plant.

The plant is sometimes called "corpse flower" because of its revoltingly foul-smelling, decaying flesh-like perfume. Others likened its smell to "Limburger cheese, garlic, rotting fish, and smelly feet."

It attracts flesh-eating pollinators, such as flies and beetles, from over a kilometer (half a mile) away by radiating heat and stench like a grisly oil diffuser. But in this instance, it's more likely that conscientious botanists will pollinate the Kew bloom.

The first bloom, usually lasting between 24 and 48 hours, has already faded. However, since the second plant is getting ready to bloom and is anticipated to open this week, it's still possible for those who arrive later than expected to see and smell this incredible natural wonder.

What Is Amorphophallus Titanum?

Amorphophallus titanum is from the Ancient Greek amorphos, "without form, misshapen," phallos meaning "penis," and titan, "giant." It is popularly known as titan arum.

It is a flowering plant that has the world's largest unbranched inflorescence. It grows well on the boundaries between open grasslands and rainforests. Although it can be found in many botanic gardens worldwide, its native habitat is still the tropical woods of Sumatra.

The titan arum is also known as a carrion flower, the "Corpse flower," or the "Corpse plant" (Indonesian: bunga bangkai; bunga means flower, while bangkai means corpse or cadaver) due to its scent, which is evocative of the smell of a decomposing mammal.

Due to Western colonialism, many plants were found and brought for cultivation worldwide in the late 1800s, which is when the fascination with titan arums started. However, these enormous tropical plants are housed in a greenhouse that simulates the tropical environment of Sumatra, an Indonesian equatorial island.

Italian botanist Odouardo Beccari visited central Sumatra in 1878 and brought the plant to the attention of Western scientists. Under the instruction of natives whom he never acknowledged, Beccari sent specimens to Kew for growth, where they developed into solid underground tubers and began to produce leaves for several years, accumulating energy for the eventual grand climax.

The first-ever cultivated bloom was considered unsuitable for women to see and lasted for only three days. The Latin name of the plant means "huge malformed penis," a similarity that outraged Victorian sensibilities. In 1926, a second hideous bloom caused even more controversy when police were sent in to quell the agitated masses.

Since their inception, conservatory examples of titan arum in bloom have increased globally, yet their peculiar nature still draws pollinators and onlookers alike.

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