Timing doesn't get much better than this. A corpse flower at UC Santa Cruz, a plant that smells like rotting flesh, looks set to bloom around Halloween.
A rare bloom
It will be only the plant's second bloom since it came to UCSC in 2012, Lookout Santa Cruz reports. The first was Aug. 2, 2022, and it drew thousands of visitors. Arboretum Executive Director Rick Flores told Lookout these plants usually take five to eight years to bloom again, so four years is early.
Flores said staff expected the bloom within about a week to a week and a half of Monday, Oct. 26. Blooms usually start in the late afternoon or evening, and the flower stays open for only about a day before it collapses.
What it is
The plant (Amorphophallus titanum, also called titan arum) is endangered and native to the tropical forests of Sumatra. What looks like one flower is really a cluster of many flowers. Its smell attracts flies and other insects that pollinate it. UCSC Greenhouses director Sylvie Childress told Lookout it smells somewhere between "rotting flesh and stinking socks." Staff are trying to get pollen from another bloom so they can grow seeds.
How to see it
The plant is on public display in a warm greenhouse during normal arboretum hours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Lookout reports. On bloom day, the arboretum will send an announcement and extend hours to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Updates are posted on the arboretum's Instagram. The arboretum warns that parking is very limited and parking on Empire Grade is prohibited and ticketed.