It’s back! Rare corpse flower set to stink up Vancouver’s Bloedel Conservatory

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The smell of rotting meat is coming back to Vancouver’s Bloedel Conservatory, with the return of the rare corpse flower.

The unique tropical plant produces only one leaf and reaches up to 15 feet in size. Dubbed “Uncle Fester,” the amorphophallus titanum releases a powerful stench described as similar to rotting flesh, discarded diapers, or hot garbage. That scent attracts pollinator insects like carrion beetles and flesh flies that feed on dead animals.

“Once smelled, is hard to forget,” said Bruce McDonald, Superintendent at Bloedel Conservatory.

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It blooms for just one day and then wilts and becomes dormant once again. It can remain dormant for as long as a decade before it flowers again.

“Bets are on as to when exactly the flower will open, but based on its already-larger corm, we think this year’s bloom is going to be bigger and stinkier than ever before,” McDonald added.

The corpse flower at the conservatory is now nine years old and is over two feet tall. Over the next few weeks, it’s expected to grow another three inches per day.

In 2018, the Bloedel Conservatory hosted the first corpse flower to bloom in B.C. Here is a timelapse video from the Vancouver Park Board showing the “rise and fall” of Uncle Fester that year:

 

About 4,100 visitors went to the conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park on the first full day of that bloom, while the next day, some waited up to three hours to see Uncle Fester.