It’s Happening! URI’s Corpse Flower Has Bloomed.
The public can view the odiferous plant through 10 p.m. tonight at the URI Horridge Conservatory in Kingston.
Morticia, the corpse flower at the University of Rhode Island, will be in full bloom — and scent — for up to twenty-four hours. Photograph courtesy of the University of Rhode Island.
For the first time in thirteen years, a corpse flower has bloomed at the University of Rhode Island’s Horridge Conservatory.
And it smells absolutely horrid — think a pungent mix of rotting meat and extreme body odor. (But in the botany world, that’s a good thing. More on that later.)
If you want to see the towering specimen, which bloomed Tuesday evening, the greenhouse is open extended hours on Wednesday, June 17, from 9 a.m.–10 p.m. If you can’t make it in person, you can always watch the flower in all its glory — no nose plugs needed — on the university’s live stream. The bloom is expected to last for twenty-four hours before the plant starts to wither and go back into dormancy.
The long-stemmed beauty has been drawing steady crowds to Kingston since the bloom watch started last week, says Benjamin Robbins, URI’s greenhouse manager.
“It’s amazing the interest it’s brought from throughout the state,” he says. “The crowds have been constant; every time I look there’s a ton of people.”
The Titan Arum, Amorphophallus titanum, grows in the Sumatran rain forest. The scent attracts beetles and flies, which in turn visit and pollinate other corpse flowers. Dubbed “Morticia” by URI’s social media followers, the plant has been lovingly cared for by students and faculty of the department of plant sciences and entomology.
The corpse flower, as seen Tuesday afternoon before the big unfurling. Photograph by Dana Laverty.
Plant sciences major Daniel Meservey, who repotted Morticia and has been watering her faithfully and tracking her progress, credits the entire department with nurturing the plant and educating the throngs of visitors watching its development for more than a week.
“It’s really been a collective effort,” says the junior, who’s specializing in ornamental horticulture and hopes to one day manage a greenhouse of his own. “The entire plant sciences department is amazing. They definitely helped me through this and taught me so many things, and I’m very grateful for that.”
If you miss the chance to visit Morticia today or tomorrow, don’t fear: The greenhouse has another corpse flower that Robbins says may flower in a few years.
The Horridge Conservatory was first built in the 1960s and contains more than 1,200 research specimens and other plants and flowers that the public can visit and enjoy, including a medicinal garden used by pharmacy students and a spectacular rose garden currently in full bloom. Those interested in supporting the work of the conservancy can make donations through the URI Foundation here. The conservatory is located in the University of Rhode Island’s greenhouse complex, 6 Greenhouse Rd. in Kingston.
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