Long lineups at Bloedel Conservatory as smelly corpse flower blooms
Posted July 16, 2018 1:38 pm.
Last Updated July 17, 2018 6:16 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – There have been long line-ups at the Bloedel Conservatory in Vancouver today to get a glimpse — and a whiff — of “Uncle Fester,” the corpse flower.
Bruce McDonald is superintendent of the Conservatory and says the flower is as full as it’s going to get, giving off a smell described as a dead rat. But it won’t last long–the flower will go dormant.
“And probably within–it’s hard to tell, these things are so erradtic–it could be four or five months for the [plant] to go dormant,” he explains.
“We’ll repot it and it will most likely grow a leaf in the next growth cycle,” says McDonald.
He adds the flower will be “sort of looking a little worse for wear” after 48-hour bloom.
McDonald adds it only flowers about three times over its 40-year lifespan. He says the smell will be strong for about 24 hours and will start to subside at around 36.