HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A pungent plant is making a big stink at the Foster Botanical Garden, and there are only a few days to get a good whiff of it.
The titan arum, more commonly known as a “corpse flower,” began blooming Friday afternoon.
This year’s plant, “Stink-182,” was named in a contest held on the city’s social media, and people are lining up to catch the putrid scent.
“It kind of smells like dead meat. Lots of flies,” said Nicole Borland, a visitor to the garden.
Borland wanted her daughter to smell the plant, which she described as “disgusting.”
Those flies are crucial pollinators and are attracted to the plant’s stench.
“They like that kind of smell, and the chemicals in there are the same things you’re going to find in stinky things like cheese and sweaty stuff,” said Joshlyn Sand, Honolulu Botanical Gardens Director.
Sand said the female flowers bloom 24 hours before the male pollen comes out to keep them from self-pollinating. Then a fly takes it to another corpse flower.
Foster Botanical Garden has 13 corpse flowers. The last one bloomed two years ago.
Just when the stinky species is ready to open is hard to predict.
“It might be every couple years, it might take a rest, build that energy up for five years, it depends on the plant, it’s really unpredictable,” Sand said.
If you want to get up close for a sniff, there’s a short window: the flower is only expected to stay open through the weekend.
Foster Botanical Garden is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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