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Rotten fish? Stinky feet? Corpse plant blooms in Encinitas

Amorphophallus titanum is the fastest growing plant in the world and its blooms bring thousands of onlookers who describe the smell in various ways.

SAN DIEGO — If you haven’t heard, there’s a celebrity in the house. The greenhouse that is. And though it’s not signing autographs everyone wants a selfie. There are a few rockstars in the plant kingdom and amorphophallus titanum is one. It’s better known as the corpse flower and it brings people by the droves to see it when it blooms.

"This one is known as Jack Smellington. We had a fun little contest for the kids to name that plant," said San Diego Botanical Gardens horticulturalist John Clements

You would think that more people would come to the botanical gardens for nice-smelling flowers, but like the name suggests the corpse flower stinks to high heaven when it blooms.

"The smell of a junior high locker room then to maybe rotten fish with a little bit of rotten onion thrown in," said Clements. "Then it went to rotten, stinking, maggot-infested meat. And it did that in an evening and it was so bad that my eyes would water."

He said the flower is mysterious as it’s hard to predict when it will bloom. You could be waiting years to smell the scent of the corpse flower.

Credit: Don Biadog
San Diego Botanical Gardens Credit: Don Biadog

"This is a plant nerd's dream because these plants don't bloom very often," he said. "So this plant's 14 years old and it bloomed last in 2018 and normally they bloom every seven to 10 years."

So now you’re wondering, what does smell like? Since the plant had bloomed a few days ago, I didn’t get a whiff of that famous scent. As there are only around 100 in the United States, it’s rare to catch a glimpse of a blooming titanum.   

"The likelihood of you being near one that's in bloom at the right time, right place is almost impossible," said Clements. "So for most people, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

WATCH RELATED: Rare, smelly 'corpse flower' blooms at San Diego Botanic Garden

   

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