The rare unfurling of an endangered plant that emits the smell of decaying flesh drew hundreds of devoted fans to a greenhouse in Sydney yesterday, where they lined up to experience a momentous bloom — and a fragrance evoking gym socks and rotting garbage.
Tall, pointed and smelly, the corpse flower is scientifically known as amorphophallus titanum, or bunga bangkai in Indonesia, where the plants are found in the Sumatran rainforest, but to fans of this specimen, she is Putricia — a portmanteau of “putrid” and “Patricia” eagerly adopted by her followers, who, naturally, call themselves Putricians.
For a week, it has graced a stately and gothic display in front of a purple curtain and wreathed in mist from a humidifier at the Royal Sydney Botanic Garden.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Its rise to fame since has been rapid, with more than 13,000 admirers filing past for a moment in its increasingly pungent presence. No corpse flower has bloomed at the garden for 15 years.
The plant only flowers every seven to 10 years in the wild.
“The fact that they open very rarely, so they flower rarely, is obviously something that puts them at a little bit of a disadvantage in the wild,” said garden spokesperson Sophie Daniel, who designed Putricia’s kooky and funereal display. “When they open, they have to hope that another flower is open nearby, because they can’t self-pollinate.”
There are thought to be only 300 of the plants in the wild and fewer than 1,000 worldwide — including those in cultivation. Among them is Putricia, which arrived at the garden seven years ago.
When its flower was spotted last month the plant was just 25cm high. By yesterday, it was 1.6m tall — and its flower spike was slowly opening like a pleated skirt around a majestic central tuber, the yellow-green outer curling to reveal a burgundy center.
As excitement grew in Sydney about the moment of bloom, garden staff erected crowd barriers, giving the Victorian greenhouse the air of a rock concert. Fans trod a red carpet to view Putricia from behind velvet ropes in a display inspired by Queen Victoria’s funeral, the Rocky Horror Picture Show and the oeuvre of late movie director David Lynch.
Inside, fans took selfies and leaned in for a sniff — an increasingly perilous prospect as Putricia’s odor developed. One young woman raised her hands and bowed as though in worship.
It was difficult to say why the regal, mysterious and stinky flower had attracted such a following — but perhaps the answer lay in the “reverence” viewers felt in the presence of “such an amazing living being,” Daniel said.
Along with its real-life visitors, Putricia’s online fandom has been rapid, global and deeply strange — if much less smelly. A livestream established by the botanic garden drew close to 1 million views in less than a week.
As it unfurled, Putricia would heat to 37°C to better spread her scent, Daniel said, attracting flies and carrion beetles to burrow inside and lay eggs.
Then, work would begin to hand-pollinate the plant in efforts to ensure the species’ diversity and survival, she said.
First, though, thousands of Putricians would attempt to get as close as they could to their hero.
“We did have a few conversations early on about whether or not we should have vomit bags in the room,” Daniel said, adding that garden staff ultimately decided against it. “I haven’t heard of anyone actually being harmed.”
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