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New York|This Rare Plant Smells Horrible, but People Can’t Wait to Get a Whiff
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/nyregion/brooklyn-corpse-flower-bloom.html
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There is no shortage of unpleasant odors in New York City: overflowing garbage on the sidewalk, unmentionable substances in the subway, traffic fumes and more. This week, yet another foul scent has entered the smellscape, but in this case, New Yorkers are flocking to experience it: the blooming of an Amorphophallus gigas, a.k.a. a corpse flower, at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
The rare plant smells of rotting flesh to attract pollinators like beetles and flies that are typically drawn to dead animals. It only flowers every three to five years after its first time, which can take nearly a decade. Technically, the blossom is an inflorescence, not a flower, because it is several little flowers altogether — think of hydrangeas or hyacinths.
When the garden announced the bloom’s arrival on social media around 10:30 a.m. Friday morning, New Yorkers skipped work and canceled plans, rushing to bear witness to the natural wonder. They buzzed around the gigas, which is nearly six feet tall, taking photos and breathing deeply.
Inside the garden’s Aquatic House, where the plant is kept, its stench was unavoidable. It also changed with time. At first it evoked a dead rat, but later in the morning it was more akin to cheese or ginkgo. And the experience was multi-sensory: The gigas emits heat, also to lure pollinators.
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The corpse flower has become an unlikely celebrity, giving New Yorkers something weird and wonderful to celebrate amid the cold and dark of January. After soliciting nominations on Instagram, the members of the garden’s staff named it “Smelliot.”
