Huntington Draws 7,000 Visitors for 2 Corpse Flowers as Rare Twin Bloom Peaks

Q: What chemical secrets allow the corpse flower to perfectly mimic a dead body's scent to trick its pollinators?

The corpse flower’s trick is a chemical one: it releases a blend of volatile compounds that closely matches the smell profile of animal decay, then heats itself to push that odor into the air. Researchers say the key ingredients are sulfur-containing chemicals and amine-like compounds. Sulfur volatiles create the sharp “rotting flesh” note, while amines add the stale, fishy, manure-like character typical of decomposing tissue. Together, they produce the smell visitors describe as rotten meat, fish, onions or a hot dumpster. The mimicry works because the titan arum is targeting carrion insects, especially beetles and flesh flies, that normally seek out carcasses to feed or lay eggs. To make the deception more convincing, the plant’s central spike, or spadix, generates heat through thermogenesis, sometimes reaching roughly 81 to 98 degrees Fahrenheit. That warmth helps vaporize and spread the odor, much as a warm body or fresh carcass would, making the scent detectable from far away. This is why the bloom is so effective despite lasting only a day or two at peak. The flower is not just smelly; it is chemically tuned to imitate decay and physically engineered to broadcast that signal at the right moment, maximizing its chances of attracting pollinators in the wild.

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 14

More than 7,000 people visited the Huntington in San Marino on Monday after titan arums Odorysseus and Odora bloomed over the weekend.
The twin bloom was unusually fleeting—each flowering lasts just 24 to 48 hours—so staff alerted the public Sunday and the plants peaked overnight before beginning to close Monday.
Three-hour lines formed and advance tickets sold out by late Monday morning, even though many visitors saw the plants for only a few minutes.
The corpse flower’s rotting-flesh odor attracts carrion beetles and flesh flies that pollinate the endangered Sumatran plant, with fewer than 1,000 believed to remain in the wild.
Huntington has cultivated titan arums for more than 25 years and now holds over 43 mature specimens, many descended from a successful 2002 pollination that also supplied other U.S. gardens.