Timeless Beauty
One of the world’s largest and rarest flowering structures, the corpse flower is a pungent plant that blooms rarely and only for a short time. While it is in bloom, the flower emits a strong odor similar to rotting meat or, aptly, a decaying corpse. (source)
This week, I was so excited to hear the Lyon Arboretum here in Honolulu, HI had a blooming corpse flower. The scientific name of the corpse flower is Amorphophallus titanum.
This is such a rare flower.
The amazing corpse flower can take up to seven years to bloom; some corpse flowers only bloom once every few decades. It grows up to 10-15 feet tall!
Here is a photo of the corpse flower in bloom at the Lyon Arboretum: Corpse Flower
Last year, I had seen a photo of one blooming at the Foster Botanical Garden. Unfortunately, at the time, I didn’t realize the bloom only lasted a short time. We visited the garden a few days later and it was already shriveled up…so dissapointing!
So, this year, when I heard the news of a blooming corpse flower at Lyon Arboretum, the kids and I decided it was time for an adventure and we headed there as soon as we could.
Luck would have it, I had a hike scheduled to lead the next morning at Manoa Falls which is right by this botanical garden. So, we did the hike and then popped over to check it out afterwards. It was on day 4 of the bloom and, as you can tell, the bloom was fading. I was so dissapointed again!
Even seeing the corpse flower in this state was impressive. It was still so incredibly beautfiul! It has only sparked my interest in this flower even more!
I am so happy to say, I did a little more research as I’m writting this. So, now I know the bloom only last 24-36 hours! No wonder I’ve always missed it! I knew it was a short bloom. But, that’s super short!
The kids were pretty impressed with this huge flower. It was as tall as them and it wasn’t even fully bloomed! Just imagine how amazing it would look in all of its glory!
I will be listening and watching for more corpse flower bloomings! Let’s hope I can catch one and see it in full bloom! Third times a charm, right?!?!
I’ll keep you posted!
With Aloha,
Lacy
Adventures of a Busy Mom 
Wow, the flower looks huge. Thank you for sharing .
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I’m glad you stopped over to check it out! I had just finished writing this post when I saw your beautiful flowers. I thought you would find this one impressive! It was so huge! When it’s in full bloom, it puts off a nasty smell. So, maybe we actually lucked out and saw it in this state! 😷😳
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Fascinating . But such a morbid name for such a beautiful and fascinating flower.
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I know, right? I guess, when it blooms it smells like a dead corpse! Pretty enticing, isn’t it! ha Here is link explaining why it smells. Pretty interesting! http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150930-stinky-corpse-flower-chicago-botanic-garden-blooms/
Thanks for stopping by James! Have a great weekend friend!
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