The very rare and very peculiar Amorphophallus titanum is about to bloom at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers.
SF Weekly delivers the odorous news of the "Terra the Titan," a plant that blooms only once every three or four years and only for a day. Even more curious, the blooming plant has the distinct smell of rotting flesh or rotting meat. Naturally, everyone is super psyched to smell this beast.
The Conservatory is currently is possession of "Terra the Titan" and expects her to blossom sometime between June 13 and June 15. Basically, San Francisco flower nerds are anticipating the birth of extreme funk.
Explains the Weekly:
The Amorphophallus titanum grows in the rainforests on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, and it looks like it was sent by a race of sentient plants to colonize Earth. A relative of the calla lily and the cuckoo pint that can grow to nine feet, it's the largest flower in the world, and its unpleasant aroma is an evolutionary adaptation meant to attract beetles that feast on carrion, in order to help pollinate it. Even in the wild, these flowers bloom rarely, so when a cultivated specimen flowers, it's even more exciting especially for fans of rotting fish, sweaty sock, human feces, Limburger cheese, and everything else that goes into its rich smell.
Okay well now we kinda have to smell this.
The University of California, Berkeley Botanical Garden had a "corpse flower" of its own briefly bloom in 2015 and at least 1,000 folks lined-up for the stinky opportunity to get a whiff.
The Conservatory's fetid treasure comes courtesy of Mission resident Sidney Price, who grew three Amorphophallus titanums in his bathroom until they became too big to handle in 2014. "These beautiful plants are getting destroyed in their native habitat. It was worth trying to grow them, and my bathroom, it turns out, was perfect!" Price explained to the Weekly.
While it comes as no surprise that something smelly grew inside of a Mission District residential restroom, we're betting hundreds of San Franciscans will happily line up to inhale a rare sniff of the blooming "Terra the Titan."
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