Thousands of visitors have flocked to a southern California research institution to witness the rare simultaneous blooming of two 'corpse flowers'. The two Titan Arums, affectionately named Odorysseus and Odora, drew over 7,000 people to the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, near Los Angeles, after they unfurled their enormous petals over the weekend.
The spectacle is particularly unusual as each bloom of the Titan Arum, one of the world's largest and most famously odorous plants, typically lasts for only 24 to 48 hours. Staff at the Huntington alerted the public on Sunday afternoon as the towering plants began to open, reaching their peak overnight before slowly starting to close the following day. Despite the brief window, visitors on Monday were still able to experience the 'enchanted' event, with many queuing for up to three hours for just a few minutes with the plants.
Brandon Tam, curator of the Huntington's orchid collection, noted the profound impact the plants had on visitors. He told the Guardian that people were 'curious, inspired', and even 'started to fall in love' with plants, highlighting the corpse flower as a 'poster child' for understanding the intricate life of the plant kingdom. Such was the excitement that advance tickets for the attraction sold out by late Monday morning, demonstrating the immense public interest in these botanical marvels.
The Titan Arum, or corpse flower, earns its common name from the pungent scent it emits, which is said to resemble rotting flesh. This powerful aroma serves a crucial purpose: it attracts carrion beetles and flesh flies, which act as vital pollinators for the endangered plant. Originating from western Sumatra, Indonesia, the plant is not a single flower but a complex flowering structure composed of hundreds of tiny blooms, capable of growing over 12 feet tall before collapsing into a dormant period that can last for years.
The Huntington institution has been instrumental in the cultivation and conservation of Titan Arums for more than 25 years. It currently boasts over 43 mature specimens, many of which are descendants from a plant successfully pollinated in 2002. This successful pollination yielded hundreds of fruits and seeds, which were then propagated and shared with other botanical gardens across the United States, playing a critical role in the ongoing efforts to conserve this endangered species, with fewer than 1,000 believed to remain in the wild.