Bob Collins
Reader Corrie Patrick has just sent this photo from a trip today to St. Paul’s wonderful Como Conservatory, where the “corpse flower” is in bloom. And by, “in bloom,” we mean it stinks to high heaven… like death, they say.
“It did not disappoint,” Corrie says, as if you could be disappointed by the reeking smell of death from a plant whose Latin name means misshapen penis.
The bloom only lasts 1-2 days (it started opening yesterday afternoon) and the smell is much shorter. “By closing time tonight, there is the possibility that the smell will have disappeared and the spathe will have started to close up and again cover the base of the spadix,” the Conservatory’s website says.
It’s staying open late tonight for the occasion ( 9 pm).
It is named “BOB, too,” but not for the reason you might think. It was obtained from Gustavus Adolphus College’s chemistry professor Dr. Brian O‘Brien. It is 18 years old and has never bloomed before.
(h/t: Corrie Patrick)
