What’s that smell?

Two super rare corpse flowers that look and smell like death are in full bloom Temple University Ambler Campus Greenhouse First time at university.

These flowers, also called konjac (Amorphophallus titanum), bloom only once every 7 to 10 years and last only a few days. This attracts many people who are interested in this unusual plant.

Although most of the flowers exude a sweet smell, the flowers of the corpse exude the smell of rotten flesh.

It is the largest “unbranched inflorescence” in the world. It can grow to about 7 feet tall, with leaves spread out 12 feet wide and weighs 30 to 50 pounds. According to the temple. Last year, a corpse flower was in Longwood Garden In Chester County.

Temple Amberle officials announced The larger of the two bulbs bloomed on the weekend and was “all spent”, but if you missed it, the second flower will bloom between May 24 and May 31.

The smelly smell, spotted maroon and pink, this is how this flower attracts pollinators,” he said. Benjamin Snyder, manager of the Temple Ambler Greenhouse Education and Research Complex, Taylor School of Art and Architecture. “It attracts not only bees and butterflies, but also anything that is naturally attracted to rotting meat, such as beetles and flies.”

The flower is native to Sumatra and grows in a small geographic area. Snyder said they are endangered species. Temple’s two corpse flowers were donated to Ohio State University in 2017, and they were grown from seeds collected from pollinators there in 2013.

Snyder told Temple that the reason the flower was so big was to help it spread its unique scent in the humid jungle to attract pollinators.

If you can’t go to the greenhouse to see the second flower in full bloom later this month, then the university has set up a live Rare event.

Temple will post an update on the second flower on it website And social media.