the corpse flower

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about every 1000 days a corpse flower will bloom. it's from Sumatra though. fortunately, my alma mater, UConn, has one, and it bloomed this weekend. my son and i had a free day together so when i saw it announced in the local paper i thought what more fun can be had then taking my boy to go see a giant flower that smells like rotting flesh at the beautiful campus in Storrs, Ct. we packed a lunch and drove the hour north. there was a line only ten people long. it definitely was giant, taller than me, they provided a stepladder to look down into it, but it didn't stink too much. bummer. it's rotten smell attracts flies in search of carrion to walk around on it in frustration and pick up pollen to bring to another blooming corpse flower.

too bad so many people can't appreciate a creator for this amazing design and instead appreciate the lottery called evolution.

we then toured the campus, watched frogs and bluegills and a turtle in a pond while we ate our lunches and ended up at the dairy bar for some huge servings of ice cream from the cows up the hill.

here is the update on the corpse flower.
  • The Titan Arum opened Friday night!
  • It peaked at 68" tall
  • It reached its peak bloom (and stench) around 2am on Saturday AM.

  • As of Monday AM, the flower has closed and will probably topple later today.
  • It will remain on display for a couple of days before we prepare it for another vegetative growth cycle.
  • Regular hours resume Mon 8am-4pm
even without the corpse flower, there are so many cool plants to see in the greenhouse, such as, fruiting grapefruit and oranges and cacoa (chocolate), plus orchids and bromeliads, and its all free.

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