Giant Corpse Flower Set To Bring The Stink To Denver

· Aug. 3, 2015, 9:56 pm
Photo: Corpse Flower in DCAP
Get ready Denver. Something is growing. Each day it climbs another 2 inches, building to a day when it will announce itself to the world with glorious colors and the smell of rotten flesh.
That something is a corpse flower, or Amorphophallus titanum, a Sumatran mega flower set to bloom at the Denver Botanic Gardens around Aug. 16.
The bloom will have been a longtime coming. That plant's first bloom takes 8-20 years of growth and a second bloom only occurs after another 7-10 years. But when it does finally break from its massive bud, expect an unforgettable visual and olfactory display. 
The flower looks like an enormous finger with purple frills. It can reach 8 feet high and weigh 250 pounds. Most notable is the smell--something known to both conjure death and kill appetites. 
But you'll have to act fast if you want a whiff. The stink only lingers for 48 hours after the bloom, so the Botanic Gardens is keeping the public informed on social media. Keep your eyes (and nose) on #StinkyDBG. 

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