Corpse Flower Began Releasing Smelly Fragrances During Super Bowl 50

Summary: A corpse flower began releasing smelly fragrances during Super Bowl 50, as witnessed by University of Minnesota visitors and Periscope viewers.

blooming, odoriferous corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) at United States Botanic Garden: U.S. Botanic Garden, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016, live video streaming app Periscope successfully drew fascinated audiences, especially in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, as the University of Minnesota’s corpse flower began releasing smelly fragrances during Super Bowl 50.

“When the flower opens, it also heats up. And as it heats up, the smell volatilizes and spreads farther to attract its pollinators,” explains Lisa Aston Philander, curator at the University of Minnesota’s College of Biological Sciences (CBS) Conservatory in St. Paul, in an interview Monday, Feb. 8, via WCCO TV (Channel 4), a Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) owned-and-operated television station in Minneapolis.

The University of Minnesota’s corpse flower last bloomed and smelled up the College of Biological Sciences Conservatory seven years ago. In anticipation of the unusual odoriferous performance, the College of Biological Sciences Conservatory opened to the public beginning Monday, Feb. 1. On Feb. 8, one week later, at least 5,000 visitors had sniffed and viewed the five-foot-tall plant.

One visitor told WCCO TV, “I’ve been watching it all week. It’s on my bucket list to see one of these plants up close and personal.”

A cultivated corpse flower’s first bloom usually happens in the first seven to 10 years of above-ground growth from an underground stem, known botanically as a corm. After the first flowering, blooming occurs unpredictably, generally every two to 10 years.

A large, frilly sheath, known botanically as a spathe (pronounced: speyth), wraps around a spiked inflorescence, known botanically as a spadix (pronounced: spay-dicks). The frilly, furrowed spathe is deep green on the outside and deep burgundy red on the inside. An unwrapped spathe shelters two concentric rings of flowers around the base of the spadix.

The opening of the spathe signals that blooming and the release of the corpse flower’s infamous odor will soon happen. The spathe’s opening begins in the late afternoon. Blooming and the smelly fragrance last for up to 48 hours after the spathe starts opening. The corpse flower’s odor is likened to the foul smell of dead, decaying animals.

“We have the Amorphophallus titanum. It is a corpse flower or a titan arum flower. It’s endemic to Sumatra, and that means that it only grows in Sumatra,” Lisa Aston Philander, the plant's curator, tells WCCO TV.

Sir David Attenborough invented the common name of titan arum during his pursuit of the corpse flower in its native Sumatra in 1994 for his BBC nature documentary series, The Private Life of Plants (1995). The plant’s scientific name translates as misshapen giant phallus.

“The other thing about it is that it is called Amorphophallus titanum, and I didn’t think you could constantly refer to it like that on a popular show, so I invented a popular name -- the Titan Arum -- and everybody now calls it the Titan Arum, it’s in all the books,” Sir Attenborough explains in a retrospective published by The Telegraph Jan. 5, 2008.

Even though the University of Minnesota’s corpse flower, known as Chauncy, began releasing smelly fragrances during Super Bowl 50, it did not lack an audience.

“I actually was partially watching the super bowl and partially watching the live stream the whole time,” corpse flower visitor Shontel Smith tells Alanna Martella, a reporter for National Broadcasting Company (NBC) affiliate KTTC, Feb. 8. “Beyonce was great, but this was better. Beyonce happens everyday [sic], this happens every seven years.”

Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), known as corpse flower, is located in the University of Minnesota's Biological Sciences Conservatory, 1534 Lindig Street, on the St. Paul campus: MPR News @MPRnews, via Twitter Feb. 8, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

blooming, odoriferous corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) at United States Botanic Garden: U.S. Botanic Garden, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Titan-arum1web.jpg

Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), known as corpse flower, is located in the University of Minnesota's Biological Sciences Conservatory, 1534 Lindig Street, on the St. Paul campus: MPR News @MPRnews, via Twitter Feb. 8, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/MPRnews/status/696731509370331136

For further information:

"The Corpse Flower at the CBS Conservatory." University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences > Collections.
Available @ http://cbs.umn.edu/conservatory/corpse-flower

"Foul-smelling 'corpse flower' blooms at U of Minnesota." The Daily Courier > News > World News. Feb. 8, 2015.
Available @ http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/news/world_news/article_f87c9ebc-f2d2-5267-b193-7175d908805f.html

"Frequently Asked Questions About the Titan Arum (Amorphophallus titanum)." Chicago Botanic Garden > Horticulture > Plant Finder > The Titan Arum.
Available @ http://www.chicagobotanic.org/titan/faq

Marriner, Derdriu. "Super Bowl 2016 Flashed Past Scott Kelly at 17,500 Miles Per Hour." Earth and Space News. Monday, Feb. 8, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/02/super-bowl-2016-flashed-past-scott.html

Martella, Alanna. "Corpse Flower stinks up University of Minnesota for 48 hours." KTTC. Feb. 8, 2016.
Available @ http://www.kttc.com/story/31172515/2016/02/08/corpse-flower-stinks-up-university-of-minnesota-for-48-hours

MPR News‏ @MPRnews. "The "corpse flower" bloomed at the U of MN. Here's how you can see + smell it." Twitter. Feb. 8, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MPRnews/status/696731509370331136

"Return of the Titan." United States Botanic Garden > Visit.
Available @ https://www.usbg.gov/return-titan

WCCO – CBS Minnesota. "Stinky Corpse Flower Blooms At University of Minnesota." YouTube. Feb. 8, 2016.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v70G1sprdNY