With temperatures set to soar this week, forget heading to the beach – we’ve got a much better idea. One of the world’s largest flowers, famous for a stench likened to rotting flesh, has bloomed and begun its stinky reveal at Adelaide Botanic Garden’s Bicentennial Conservatory.
Photo by Tom Chladek
The Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) – found in the rainforests of Sumatra – is commonly known as the Corpse Flower, and it can grow up to three metres tall.
You can get a whiff of the pungent flower for the third time in as many months, tonight until 11:30pm!
Visitors to the Garden are advised that after 7pm the only access to the Garden and Conservatory will be through the Conservatory Gate, off Plane Tree Drive.
The flowering event, which follows last year’s spectacular Titan arum bloom at Mount Lofty Botanic Garden, is expected to draw huge crowds in the city, given more than 5,000 people flocked to see it in the Adelaide Hills. 16,000 visitors reportedly flocked to the Bicentennial Conservatory in February last year to smell its rotting flesh odour, when it produced its first flower.
A sausage sizzle, cool drinks, coffee and ice cream will be available, and visitors are advised to bring plenty of water, sunscreen and a hat due to the possibility of long lines.
A gold coin donation to help the Gardens’ conservation work for this rare and threatened species is appreciated, or visitors can donate to the cause online.
“What makes this bloom so special is that these plants typically only flower every two or three years, after taking 10 years to flower from seed,” Botanic Gardens Director Lucy Sutherland said.
“Ganteng, on the other hand, has now flowered two years in a row, and it has also grown strangely from the side of the plant’s leaf, which I’m told is unheard of!”
Visit the Botanic Gardens of South Australia’s website, Facebook, Twitter , Snapchat and Instagram for imagery and updates throughout the Titan arum’s flowering and use the hashtag #stinkyBGSA in your posts about the flower.
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