An unexpected surprise came this week from the Missouri Botanical Garden: Its corpse flower, Luna, bloomed on Tuesday night.
The corpse flower reportedly smells like death -- and blooms very rarely. Luna wasn't expected to bloom this year, but she defied expectations.
"It's just this huge plume that looks very prehistoric to a lot of people," Emily Colletti, Missouri Botanical Horticulturalist, said. "Plus, because it's attracting nighttime pollinators, it tends to have a very foul odor when it's emitting its smell, which is generally during the evening hours, because it's a nocturnal pollinated plant."
She said the whole reason for its smell and unusual appearance is to attract pollinators like blowflies or carrion beetles.
"So that's why it stinks and why it looks like it does. But it's just downright weird looking," she said.
When it blooms, the corpse flower starts to open up in the late afternoon or early evening and reaches its peak in the dark. Sometimes, the blooms close up immediately after they reach their peak, and sometimes they'll stay open for 36 or sometimes up to 48 hours.
"Luckily, it's looking still pretty nice this morning," Colletti said. "And actually, for all those people who couldn't make it last night and see it in all its great beauty, it's actually just as pretty now as it was last night."
Colletti added that it doesn't smell as much now -- but it sends up "bursts" of smell "like it's passing gas." She added that this isn't one of their most potent corpse flower blooms -- but it's worse at some times than others.
Corpse flowers generally take seven to ten years to bloom for the first time.
"Luna, our current bloom, is only six years old," Colletti said. "So it's a little bit young, but not unheard of."
If you missed the bloom this time around, it's not the last time Luna will bloom. But it won't happen again for a while, so get out and see it if you can.
