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What's that smell? Corpse flower blooms at Eastern

Time-lapse video shows bloom in 20 seconds

by Michael Rouleau

Willimantic, CT (07/27/2022) — One of the world's most peculiar flowering plants bloomed this week at Eastern Connecticut State University. Amorphophallus titanium, popularly known as "corpse flower" for its unmistakably putrid odor, concluded its short-lived, semiannual bloom on July 26 in the greenhouse of the David G. Carter Science Building.

Native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra, corpse flower is the world's largest unbranched inflorescence-a group of flowers arranged on a stem-reaching heights up to 12 feet tall. According to Biology Professor Bryan Connolly, the plant wreaks of feces and rotting fish to attract pollinators that normally feed and lay eggs on dead animals.

A corpse flower's first bloom may take up to 10 years and last just three days. Under ideal conditions, subsequent blooms may occur ever second or third year. Corpse flowers are rare in their native jungle environment; therefore the flowers' powerful odor is necessary to facilitate cross pollination between plants that are miles apart.

Eastern's greenhouse contains two genetic individuals and several clones of corpse flower. Retired Biology Professor Ross Koning first brought the seeds to campus in 1999. "One was grown in shade and bloomed in 2008," said Connolly. "He (Koning) named it 'Rhea' after the Titan mother goddess, as it spawned many cormels (clones). The other seed was grown in sun and he named it 'Hyperion' after the sun-Titan god."

Corpse flower is self-incompatible; it needs another blooming individual to reproduce. According to Connolly, it is uncommon for a greenhouse or botanical garden to have multiple individuals in bloom simultaneously, therefore they often send pollen to each other to produce seed.

The species is considered endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and efforts are underway to avoid inbreeding and create long-term conservation.

To see a time-lapse video of the bloom at Eastern, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5II3dw_jUZg

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Eastern Connecticut State University is the state of Connecticut's public liberal arts university, serving more than 4,300 students annually on its Willimantic campus. In addition to attracting students from 163 of Connecticut's 169 towns, Eastern also draws students from 31 states and 10 countries. A residential campus offering 41 majors and 65 minors, Eastern offers students a strong liberal art foundation grounded in a variety of applied learning opportunities. Ranked as the #1 public regional university in New England by U.S. News & World Report in its 2020, 2021 and 2022 Best Colleges ratings, Eastern has also been awarded 'Green Campus' status by the Princeton Review 12 years in a row. For more information, visit www.easternct.edu.

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Corpse flower in Eastern's greenhouse.

A corpse flower in Eastern's greenhouse with its sheathing, known as a spathe, closed.

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