A rare flower is on display at the US Botanic Garden for visitors to see…and smell
WASHINGTON - Two rare stink flowers are on display at the United States Botanic Garden and may begin blooming this weekend.
Native to the rainforests of Sumatra, the "corpse flower" is known for its size, often growing up to 12 feet tall in the wild, its ephemeral bloom cycle, and its unique scent.
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 22: Kew Garden's Titan Arum, also know as The Big Stink due to its repulsive odour is in rare full bloom at Kew Gardens on April 22, 2016 in London, England. The flower can weigh up to 70kg and is housed in the Prince of Wales
"If you’ve ever walked by a really stinky trashcan in the middle of a summer day, where it’s kind of heated up and just foul smelling, that’s a pretty good representation of what it smells like," said Devin Dotson, a spokesperson for the gardens.
But the corpse flower serves a much bigger role in DC than just stinking up the city for a couple of days.
The flowers reflect a conservation effort from botanic gardens nationwide to preserve plants in danger of extinction. The International Union for Conservation of Nature predicts that the corpse flower has declined by more than 50 percent over the last 150 years and that there are only about 1,000 left in the wild.
US Botanic Garden does not anticipate moving the collection of over 30 mature corpse flower plants into the wild anytime soon, but scientists are working to develop genetic diversity in A. titanium collections and keep them healthy in case the wild population does go extinct.
The garden has curated a nearly perfect environment for the flower to bloom often, a process that is rare in the wild. The bloom, and stench, lasts around four days. If you’re looking to catch the most potent scent, aim to get there soon after the flowers begin to open.
Conservatory hours have been shifted to 11 am- 6 pm from July 8th to August 30th to allow visitors to see these stink flowers.
"They’re huge, and they’re beautiful, and they’re stinky, and they’re short-lived, and they have all these fascinating elements to them," said Dotson.