
Corpse Flower
What does a Corpse Flower bloom look like? Watch a time-lapse of the 2022 Corpse Flower bloom at The Huntington, recorded over a period of about 40 hours.
The Anatomy of the Titan Arum
The size of the Corpse Flower bloom is probably its greatest attraction. The tallest flowering specimen at The Huntington—aptly named Stankosaurus Rex—measured over 8 feet tall (98 inches). The world record holder comes in at over 12 feet tall. The “tuber,” which is actually a corm, can weigh over 300 pounds and the solitary umbrella-like leaf can be over 15 feet tall. But it’s the rotting flesh smell of the flowers that makes this plant so memorable and notorious. Adding to the mystique is the ephemeral nature of such a massive flowering effort, lasting only two to three days, and the rarity of seeing a specimen in bloom at any time, anywhere.
Corpse Flower Life Cycle
When the Titan Arum blooms, it comes straight out of the soil from an underground corm, looking like a giant bud without any foliage. But the plant does produce a single, giant leaf when it isn’t in bloom. However, you might not recognize it as a leaf: A mature plant will produce a leaf about 12 feet tall, consisting of a smooth stem topped with a fringe of leaflets, resembling a slender, green palm tree. Several of them are on display in The Huntington’s Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science. The leaf can last longer than a year before it dies away.
What is often referred to as the plant’s flower is an inflorescence, a specialized structure that supports small individual flowers. The Corpse Flower produces the most massive unbranched inflorescence of any flowering plant. In common to all members of the aroid family (Araceae), the inflorescence consists of an outer protective sheath (spathe) that surrounds a central column bearing small individual flowers (spadix). Better-known members of this family include philodendrons, anthuriums, calla lilies, pothos, and others.
More Corpse Flower Facts
- How long does the bloom last?
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Individual bloom times vary, but typically it’s several hours from when the bloom begins to open until it’s fully open.
- What makes it smell like rotten meat?
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The chemicals responsible for the odor were once thought to be putrescine and cadaverine, which are the chemicals that produce the odor in decaying animal flesh. Researchers recently analyzed the odors of several species of Amorphophallus and found the chemicals responsible for the smell of A. titanum (and other species) are dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl trisulfide. As a comparison, one of the chemicals responsible for the odor of rotten eggs is hydrogen sulfide.
- How do you pollinate it?
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A paintbrush is used to dab up the donor pollen from male flowers and is applied to the receptive stigmas of the female flowers on the first night or the morning after it opens. The window of opportunity for this is roughly one day because on the first day after opening, the male flowers shed their pollen and the female flowers are no longer receptive. The plant does this to prevent autogamy, or self-pollination, to maximize the distribution of genes and maintain more adaptive genetic diversity.
- Is it possible to grow one in my backyard?
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It’s possible, but unlikely. The Corpse Flower prefers an evenly warm and humid environment, such as a greenhouse. We recently received a picture from someone who had one blooming in a container in his backyard in Seal Beach! While Amorphophallus titanum is very rare, many similar but much smaller plants can be found growing in home gardens. The closest relative may be Amorphophallus rivieri, which grows to a height of about 4 feet and smells nearly as bad as its larger cousin. Two other related plants are the Dragon Arum (Dracunculus vulgaris), which grows to about 2 to 3 feet in height, and the Voodoo Lily (Sauromatum venosum), which grows to 12 to 18 inches in overall height. Calla lilies, anthuriums, and philodendrons are also members of the same family.

Remember the Smell Forever!
Show off your bravery in the face of the stink with our fun Corpse Flower merch. Shop the Huntington Store when you visit or online.

Corpse Flowers at The Huntington
In August 1999, The Huntington was the focus of worldwide attention when it exhibited the first Amorphophallus titanum ever to bloom in California. It was only the 11th recorded bloom of one of these plants in the United States. During the Titan’s short bloom, Huntington botanists hand-pollinated the plant with its own pollen, using an experimental technique (self-pollination is normally impossible). Since that extraordinary event, The Huntington has shared the flowering of this rare species with the public in subsequent years. Currently, we maintain several dozen plants of Amorphophallus titanum in our greenhouses and planted in the Conservatory. This summer, our 22nd Corpse Flower bloomed in August, immediately followed by expected blooms 23 and 24 in September!