An endangered plant known as the ‘corpse flower’ due to its putrid stench is blooming in Australia – and captivating the internet in the process, with thousands already tuning into a live stream to witness its grand beginnings.
The Titan Arum plant, located in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, only flowers once every few years for just 24 hours.
Affectionately nicknamed Puttricia, it will give off an odor described as “wet socks, hot cat food, or rotten possum flesh.”
The long wait to see Puttricia fully unfold led to jokes and even unique lingo in the livestream chat, with thousands commenting “WWTF” or “We Watch the Flower.”
The live stream attracted more than 8,000 concurrent viewers on Thursday, doubling in a matter of hours as the plant’s appearance slowly changed.
John Siemon, the gardens’ director of horticulture and living collections, compared the show to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, saying “15,000 people came through the gates before (the flower) even opened.”
“This specimen is about 10 years old. We acquired it from our colleagues at the Los Angeles Botanic Garden when it was three years old, and we have been growing it for seven years,” he told the BBC.
“(We are) incredibly excited to have our first bloom in 15 years.”
After days of inaction, the view on the livestream That changed noticeably on Thursday when Puttricia, comfortably ensconced behind a red velvet rope, began to open up.
As it continues to bloom, viewers can expect to see Puttricia unfold a vibrant brown or purple skirt, known as a spathe, around its spadix which is the large spike in the middle of the plant.
The gardens said it was “difficult to predict exactly when” Puttricia would flower, but that didn’t stop thousands of people gathered online.
“I’m back to see how Puttricia is doing and I see she’s still taking her time like the queen she is, fair play,” one commenter wrote. “This is the slowest burlesque ever,” said another.
Another person wrote: “All night I looked, fell asleep, woke up, looked, fell asleep. I am weak, but Puttricia is strong. WWTF. »
Other popular acronyms among viewers are WDNRP (We Do Not Rush Puttricia) and BBTB (Blessed Be The Bloom).
The plant can only be found in the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, where it is known as bunga bangkai – or “corpse flower” in Indonesian. Its scientific name is Amorphophallus titanumwhich comes from ancient Greek and means “giant deformed penis”.
When in flower, the plant’s long yellow spadix gives off a strong odor, often compared to that of rotting flesh, to encourage pollinators to land on what they think is rotting meat so they can move pollen between male and female specimens.
It has the largest floral structure in the world, as it can reach 3 m in height and weigh up to 150 kg. The plant contains several hundred flowers at the base of its spadix.
It is threatened in the wild due to deforestation and land degradation.
Putricia is one of several titan arums at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, which saw their last flowering 15 years ago.
But there have been other corpse flowers in Australia in recent years, notably in the botanical gardens of Melbourne and Adelaide, each time attracting thousands of curious visitors eager to take a whiff.
There are also a few in London’s Kew Gardens, where one of them flowered in June last year. The titan arum first flowered outside Sumatra in 1889 at Kew.
