The putrid performance at Reiman Gardens in Ames may be over, but Stink Floyd’s legacy will carry on.Reiman Gardens is selling merch commemorating the 12-year-old corpse flower’s 2025 bloom.Online orders for a special Stink Floyd T-shirt are open now. Each shirt is $30 and can be ordered from the link on the Reiman Gardens Facebook page. Orders close at noon on May 30.After weeks of “bloom watch,” Stink Floyd made its disgusting debut on April 17. The flower blooms for 24-48 hours. Thousands lined up to smell the noxious odor.What’s behind the smell?”It mimics decomposing meat to attract pollinators like carrion beetles and flesh flies,” according to the Reiman Gardens website, which also says the bloom generates heat, which helps the scent spread.There are thought to be only 300 of the plants in the wild and fewer than 1,000 including those in cultivation, according to the Associated Press. One at Des Moines Botanical Garden drew more than 8,000 people over two days when it bloomed in July 2017.Watch: Corpse flower bloom is rare, rancid, unforgettable moment at Reiman Gardens in Ames» Subscribe to KCCI’s YouTube page» Download the free KCCI app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google PlayMore about the corpse flowerKnown as the Amorphophallus titanum, the flowering plant has the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world, which can be up to 3 meters (10 feet) high.Its compound flower is composed of a hollow, tall spadix with small flowers and a spathe, with one big, furrowed petal that is green on the outside and deep burgundy red on the inside.It spends most of its life as an underground tuber, with rare and unpredictable blooms that normally happen at age 7-10 years for the first time, then every 4-5 years after that.The plant only grows in the wild in the rainforests of Sumatra, but it is endangered there due to deforestation. Cultivation at botanical gardens, where they are a great visitor attraction, has helped its preservation. Its first known blooming outside Sumatra was in 1889 at London’s Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.Information from the Associated Press was used in this article.
AMES, Iowa —
The putrid performance at Reiman Gardens in Ames may be over, but Stink Floyd’s legacy will carry on.
Reiman Gardens is selling merch commemorating the 12-year-old corpse flower’s 2025 bloom.
Online orders for a special Stink Floyd T-shirt are open now. Each shirt is $30 and can be ordered from the link on the Reiman Gardens Facebook page. Orders close at noon on May 30.
After weeks of “bloom watch,” Stink Floyd made its disgusting debut on April 17. The flower blooms for 24-48 hours. Thousands lined up to smell the noxious odor.
What’s behind the smell?
“It mimics decomposing meat to attract pollinators like carrion beetles and flesh flies,” according to the Reiman Gardens website, which also says the bloom generates heat, which helps the scent spread.
There are thought to be only 300 of the plants in the wild and fewer than 1,000 including those in cultivation, according to the Associated Press. One at Des Moines Botanical Garden drew more than 8,000 people over two days when it bloomed in July 2017.
Watch: Corpse flower bloom is rare, rancid, unforgettable moment at Reiman Gardens in Ames
» Subscribe to KCCI’s YouTube page
» Download the free KCCI app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play
More about the corpse flower
Known as the Amorphophallus titanum, the flowering plant has the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world, which can be up to 3 meters (10 feet) high.
Its compound flower is composed of a hollow, tall spadix with small flowers and a spathe, with one big, furrowed petal that is green on the outside and deep burgundy red on the inside.
It spends most of its life as an underground tuber, with rare and unpredictable blooms that normally happen at age 7-10 years for the first time, then every 4-5 years after that.
The plant only grows in the wild in the rainforests of Sumatra, but it is endangered there due to deforestation. Cultivation at botanical gardens, where they are a great visitor attraction, has helped its preservation. Its first known blooming outside Sumatra was in 1889 at London’s Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this article.