TIMELAPSE: Video shows corpse flower bloom for 1st time at facility
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A stunning timelapse video caught Cosmo the corpse flower blooming for the very first time at Colorado State University’s campus last month.
Over Memorial Day weekend, a video at CSU’s plant Growth Facilities Conservatory in Fort Collins captured the highly anticipated bloom of the Amorphophallus titanium flower, commonly referred to as the corpse flower.
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The university said in the plant kingdom, this flower has the largest unbranched inflorescence and can grow up to eight feet tall.
During peak bloom, the corpse-like smell lures in pollinators like carrion beetles and flies. The smell often is described as putrid and pungent, almost like that of decaying flesh.
According to the United States Botanic Garden, these flowers only bloom for two to three days once every year or two.
The corpse flower, however, is listed as endangered, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with fewer than 1,000 individuals remaining in the wild. The USBG said the main reasons for their decline are logging and their habitats being converted into oil palm plantations.
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