I don't know about you, but generally when I catch a whiff of something gross, I tend to try and avoid smelling it further.
But today I learned this incredibly isn't the universal reaction.
Local news reports:
It's big, it's beautiful and it's stinky. It's also in bloom in D.C., though not for long.
The scientific name for the giant plant is Amorphophallus titanum. But it's most commonly known as the corpse flower and it's currently in bloom at the United States Botanic Garden.
I just want to point out here that there is no reason I would ever eagerly go to anything called the "corpse flower." I don't care why it's named that. I'm just not gonna go towards it.
But apparently many people feel differently. They're flocking to the USBC to see this plant and experience its distinctive, ah, odor:
'Smells great if you like the smell of corpse and anything rotting,' D.C. resident Evan Kinnevan said.
That's precisely what you get with this bad boy. The titan arum is "a tall single leaf, branched like a tree" with "a heavy tuber." Honestly, it's quite a beautiful plant to look at.
But looking at it is only half of the fun: This thing really, really, really stinks.
Analyses of chemicals released by the spadix show the stench includes dimethyl trisulfide (like limburger cheese), dimethyl disulfide (garlic), trimethylamine (rotting fish), isovaleric acid (sweaty socks), benzyl alcohol (sweet floral scent), phenol (like Chloraseptic), and indole (like feces).
The flower's stench in D.C. has been described as "a trash can in the middle of the summer, and it was really bad, and full of stinky trash that was hot and stinking." It has also been likened to "rotting garbage and diapers put together."
Thankfully, the flower's life cycle is brief:
By the weekend, this particular smell and bloom will be just a memory, and it'll be a few years before this one blooms again.
Of course, Washington, D.C., will continue to stink long after the corpse flower is out of bloom.
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