Monday, August 07, 2006

Amorphophallus titanum! Extremely Large and Incredibly Stinky






















(SCRATCH AND SNIFF Version)
Green thumbed New Yorkers have been waiting since 1939 to get a good whiff of this very rare and odiferous plant that smells like rotting flesh. Yes, the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens has a monstrous 10 year old specimen about to bloom this week (if Mother Nature cooperates), in the exhibition space formally housing the C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum. It looks like the minature trees have fled the building until Titan Arum has finished flowering. The fragrance is strongest the first eight hours after the blossom opens, which most likely will be Friday.

For those of you who have never heard of, seen, or smelt the "corpse flower" before, it has all the orafacatory charm of an unemptied deli case in an Astoria blackout. Imagine a tall, green, freakish, supermodel doused with Chanel #666.

New Yorkers who claim last week's heat wave provided ample opportunity to savor just about every vile smell known to man, can save themselves a trip, and check out BBG's live web cam

As a special treat for members-only, during Members-Only Summer Hours on Wednesday, August 9, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., BBG's Plant Propagator, Alessandro Chiari, and Foreman of the Conservatories, Mark Fisher, will talk to members about "Baby" and titan arum in general.

No comments:

Post a Comment