ST. LOUIS – From far and wide, young and old, with lines stretching out the door. Cameras are ready to grab the perfect picture, all looking for a closeup of a smelly flower.
“As we’ve been talking that plants been doing things,” said Emily Colletti, a horticulturist with the Missouri Botanical Garden. “They kind of pass gas.”
The plant’s notoriety brings in guests for the sights and those just there for the smell.
“Right now, you can see the flies flying around, so there must be some kind of scent,” Colletti said.
The corpse flower known as Octavia bloomed Sunday at 10:30 p.m. to a crowd of guests releasing its silent but deadly smell.
“Because they are endangered, because it doesn’t happen very often, Because they’re just very unique in themselves and very big. That’s why they come to see it,” Colletti said.
The plant blooms only once every one to two years keeping its burnt sunrise bloom for about 24 hours.
“It stinks,” Kelly Jurotich, a visitor said.
The smell only lasts for about six to 12 hours.
“It’s a little gross, it’s a little different,” Jurotich said.
This year’s smell comes with an extra kick as Octavia split, sprouting a twin, Augie, who will likely bloom in the next week bringing his own putrid smell.
“I’ll come back in a couple of days and see if the stink is worse,” Jurotich joked.
You can keep up to date with Auggie’s bloom through the Missouri Botanical Garden website.