Efforts to conserve the corpse flower are taking center stage in an initiative led by the Chicago Botanic Garden to increase rare plants’ odds of survival by maximizing their genetic diversity. The project will apply breeding principles used by zoos to conserve animal species to six plants that are perilously close to extinction, hopefully proving methods that could be applied to many other plants.
— Read more in How to Save Phallic Flowers From Being Inbred to Extinction at The New York Times (and see also, the older article Why Is the Corpse Flower So Stinky?).
I’m DYING to smell one!
Same! They finally had one blooming near me this year but could not go see it due to the pandemic.
I used to work at the University of Washington, where they had one at their Botanic Garden. I expressed my eagerness for it to bloom to my boss, and how everyone seemed to think I was bizarre for wanting to smell it, and she said, “I promise I’ll go smell that monster with you.” 😀
Sadly, it didn’t bloom before I moved from Washington State, but I did just find that there’s one right here in OKC! I’ll need to investigate that.
Oh good, hope you can see / smell it when it blooms next.
I’ve been lucky (?) to smell one twice! The Univ of Minnesota Arboretum has a corpse flower that has bloomed several times. The last time I went there was a line of more then 100 people, it was a merry gang of weirdos. 😜
I do know the UofM is involved in this project, the person who takes care of the plant gave a great talk on preserving its DNA and propagation.
A merry gang of weirdos smelling a corpse flower sounds so fun!