Facts about corpse flower

It’s an island in southeast Asia, western Indonesia. Titan arum grows in rainforests on limestone hills.

For many years, David Attenborough was believed to be the inventor of the name titan arum for his 1995 documentary “The Private Life of Plants.” As a matter of fact, it was first used in 1961 in the American Horticultural Magazine.

It emits an odor resembling rotting meat or a decaying corpse. It takes approximately 30 chemicals to produce its scent. They include instance, methyl thioacetate, isovaleric acid, triethylamine, and sulfides.

Although it’s difficult to withstand for humans, it attracts pollinators, such as carrion-eating beetles and flesh flies, which help with plant reproduction.

The blooming takes place within roughly 24 to 36-48 hours. First, the female part of the plant starts blooming, attracting insects with the stench, and on the following night the male phase of the bloom occurs, the stench lessens and pollinators leave, covered in pollen.

Apart from being rare in the wild, the titan arum is vulnerable to the loss and destruction of its habitat.