STORRS, Conn. (AP) - Wait until the neighbors get a whiff of this.A giant exotic plant that has not bloomed in the Northeast in morethan 60 years is ready to flower at the University of Connecticut'sgreenhouses. The "corpse flower" has the odor of 3-day-old road kill,and UConn botanists couldn't be more excited.
Once open, the spiked, bright red bloom even resembles rottingmeat, a veritable welcome mat for the insects that pollinate it -flies and carrion beetles.
"It looks like something has died. It smells like something hasdied. It has some of the same chemicals that dead bodies produce,"UConn research assistant Matthew Opel said Tuesday.
The corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) at UConn was planted 10years ago and was part of a group of seeds brought to the UnitedStates from its native Sumatra by botanical explorer James Symon.
The plant is expected to blossom in the next five to six days.Until it blooms, it's almost odorless. Already at 4 feet high, theflower could reach more than 6 feet high and at least that wide whenit opens up.
The stinky botanical curiosity is expected to attract visitorslike ... well, flies.
The blossom lasts just two days before it begins to disintegrate,and UConn plans to extend visiting hours at the research greenhouseto accommodate the nosy. For the weak-stomached, a Web cam on theUConn Internet site provides odorless footage of the flower.
The UConn flower will be the seventh to bloom nationwide since1999, although it's the first in New England and the second in theNortheast since 1937.
Copyright 2003 by Telegraph-Herald, All rights Reserved.
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий