Denver Botanic Gardens says corpse flower bloom is starting to die

세상에서 가장 거대한 꽃. 20~30년에 한 번 핀다는 시체꽃(corpse flower)을 직접 보기위해 댄버 식물원을 찾았습니다. 2015년 8월 21일이면 꽃의 수명이 다한다 하여 출장에서 돌아오는 길에 알뜰 살뜰하게 시간을 내서 1시간 반을 줄을 서 기다린 다음에 구경도 하고 냄새도 맡아 보았습니다.

타이타니움(학명: Amorphophallus titanum)은 인도네시아 수마트라 섬이 원산지로 세계적으로 희귀종에 속합니다. 일부 식물원에서만 자라고 있고, 20~30년에 한 번 거대한 꽃이 피기 때문에 이 꽃이 필 때마다 해외토픽에 종종 올라옵니다.

댄버 식물원은 최근 희귀하고 멋진 시체 꽃을 보러 온 꽃 애호가가 2만2천명에 달했다고 어제 댄버 포스트가 보도했습니다. 저도 그 2만2천명중에 한명이었습니다. 희귀한 타이타니움의 개화는 놀라운 광경입니다. 이 꼴의 개화를 볼수있는 기회가 일생에 한번 만 있어도 행운이라는 호사가들의 이야기에 고무되었는데 그 행운이 이어지길 고대하며 구경을 하였습니다.

인도네시아에서 공수한 무당벌레 2만마리를 포식한 꽃이라 시체 냄새는 결국 무당벌레 시체의 냄새인 셈입니다.

Denver Botanic Gardens says corpse flower bloom is starting to die

22,000 people visited the Denver Botanic Gardens over 2 days to see the flower

By Jesse Paul and Tom McGhee

The Denver Post

08/21/2015

After two days and roughly 22,000 visitors, the Denver Botanic Gardens says there's only a limited time left to see the corpse flower's bloom — ironically — alive.

Erin Bird, a spokeswoman for the gardens, said the 15-year-old corpse flower, native to Indonesia, is almost completely "closed back up" and will start drying up and decomposing in a few days.

She called the flower's death its "grand finale."

TIMELAPSE: Corpse flower begins to bloom at Denver Botanic Gardens

Bird said the flower typically has a life span of only 24 to 48 hours after blooming, adding that its infamous stench is now gone.

The gardens had 12,000 paid visitors on Wednesday — a record — and 9,000 on Thursday. At its height on Wednesday, the line to see the flower was five hours long, Bird says.

"We don't anticipate many (more) people," Bird said, explaining how lines to see the flower have subsided.

Some visitors were disappointed at the flower's lack of smell and employees say they heard a number of complaints from people expecting the stench of death, said Aaron Sedivy, a Botanic Gardens horticulturist.

The plant had its most pungent day Wednesday, the first day of its blooming, with a smell like the carcass of "a chicken in a trash bag inside a metal garbage can left outside for a sunny few days," he said.

Even then, because so much air was circulating through the passageway where viewers gathered, the odor was weak enough that visitors were directed to a vent at the rear of the building where a sign suggested they "smell here."

Because the stinky plant hails from Indonesia's remote jungles, "there is little data about its life cycle," Sedivy said. It will be several years before it blooms again.

The plant draws insects into rows of small flowers, with its putrid smell of decay. The bugs then pollinate the flower, enabling reproduction.

Pollen gathered from the garden's plant is being sent to Chicago, where it will pollinate a corpse flower at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

The gardens will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday.

Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com