Sunday, February 21, 2010

Corpse Flower Sounds Delightful

This gloomily named 'Corpse Flower,' which made an appearance at the Lawn and Garden Show, is very rare.

In fact it grows in the wild only on the island of Sumatra.

Still, it is the superstar of the plant kingdom, dwarfing all of its relatives and taking the title of heaviest flower in the world.

But it earned its name for a much more nose-worthy characteristic.
"So, it's not only the largest flower in the world, it's the flower that produces the worst stench in the world. I was talking to a guy in Brooklyn that had one bloom and he described the flower as making a fly vomit,"

"Corpse flower" blooms smell of rotting flesh, warm up by breaking down salicylic acid, or by tracking the sun's movement.