Corpse Flower

This Titan arum has been nurtured in the UCSC greenhouse since 2013 and it has finally flowered for the first time.  It can be viewed and smelled at the UCSC Arboretum, but only for 24 hours!  Here's the long & short (literally) of it's flower cycle.  Titan arums produce one flower every 4 to 5 years; this one took almost 10.  The flower then withers a day after it opens.  This corpse flower is about midway through its 24 hour bloom. It started opening about 7:30 last night and  I suspect it will start withering about the same time this evening.  The Titan arum is called a 'corpse' flower because it smells like decaying flesh.  The scent attracts birds (probably scavenger types) and they eat the seeds which gets dispersed in their poop.  The smell really was disgusting, but my brain put the odor in the stinky French cheese category, not dead bodies.  For my neighbor and fellow blipper it was more like, " ew, stinky feet".   Ahah, I bet there will be at least one more corpse flower photo posted today.   This truly was a once in a lifetime experience!