CLEVELAND — Editor's Note: The above video is from our reporting on the 2019 corpse flower bloom at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
It's coming again!
On Tuesday, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo announced that its giant titan arum plant, better known as the corpse flower, is getting ready to bloom once again.
You remember the corpse flower, right? It's the flower that has a bloom that lasts for just 24 hours. And when it's in bloom mode for that day, the corpse flower stinks. The distinctive sent, which has been compared to everything from sweaty socks to human waste, attracts pollinating insects that normally go towards rotting corpses, such as carrion beetles and flesh flies.
Zoo officials say the corpse flower can grow up to 10 feet tall, making it one of the largest flowering plants in the world. The corpse flower has bloomed just four other times over the last 28 years, the last time in 2019.
Horticulturalists have told the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo that the full bloom is only weeks away, with the possibility of it happening around or before August 2. Guests can now visit the corpse flower in its new outdoor home, adjacent to the rhino habitat.
You can see Mike Polk Jr.'s 2019 report on the corpse flower below:
Previous Reporting:
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