The "That Plant Is How Big & Smells How Bad?" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Watching a Corpse flower bloom!  Not something that happens often, since the 6 foot tall flower opens for 24 to 36 hours and that is the end of it.  The flower that bloomed was at Longwood Gardens.  The extremely rare plant is one of the largest plants in the world.  It is known as the Titan arum plant and is described as hot garbage!  Once it blooms it will last 24 to 36 hours and then dies.  The scent disappears before the bud on the flower disappears.  

The plant belonged to the U.S. Botanical Garden who had it on display at Longwood Gardens.  After the recent show at the Gardens it was given to Longwood Gardens.    The plant was placed along Flower Garden Drive and before long darkened to a dark burgundy  and opened this past Friday.  A member of the garden staff described the plant's odor as "a full garbage can that had been left all day in the sun."  But wait!  There's a reason for the awful smell of the huge plant.  The scent, along with the plant's heat attracts pollinators like flies and carrion beetles.  After 36 hours the plant's smell vanishes.   The plant is native to the Sumatra island of Indonesia.  It take years to bloom and the flowers last only a day or two.  They are a big attraction at flower shows and gardens.  Many people visit hoping they will get a chance to see the huge plant open while they are there.  In July of 2020 a corpse flower named Sprout bloomed in front of a live camera at Longwood Gardens.  It drew lines of curious gardeners.  The plant that just bloomed had no name, but did measure 76 inches tall so there is talk around Longwood Gardens that it's name may be connected to the nearby Philadelphia 76ers basketball team.  I'd love to see one of these jewels sometime.  Can't imagine how big they are and would love to get to smell the scent of the flower as it opened.  Catching the flower as it opens would be interesting and more than likely hard to do.  Just a hit or miss occurrence.  Hey...how about "Hit or Miss" for the name of one of the flowers?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.