The University of California Riverside Botanic Gardens. welcomed a rare sight, A corpse flower that bloomed that they named Little Miss Stinky.
This will be the first time it has bloomed since the gardens began growing the tropical plant, officially known as Amorphophallus titanum, from 1999 seeds and was acquired in 2007 and took 22 years to bloom after acquiring them from the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino.
It started to boom saturday night, July 23, and remained in bloom until late Sunday night. Corpse plants only bloom when the belowground corm reaches at least 20 pounds, usually after at least a decade, and this was the first time the Botanic Gardens’ plant has bloomed. They only remain in bloom for about 24 to 40 hours before closing up. I was told by Jodie Holt, director of the Botanic Gardens
With the increases of demand to see this rare sight the gardens extended their hours and remained open over the weekend to accommodate Visitors from all over the area and the world who lined up for waits of up to 45 minutes. Staff and volunteers provided water to those waiting and a brief lecture on the corpse plant before letting in 20 people at a time to a temperature-controlled greenhouse where the plant is kept.
The Gardens had over 1,000 visitors on Sunday alone, said Jodie Holt, director of the Botanic Gardens.
Holt said. Monday morning, the spathe had nearly closed up again, and the cluster of flowers at the base of the spike had matured. Curators collected pollen to freeze for a future flowering event and to share with other gardens as part of a worldwide conservation effort.
