Two of the world’s biggest and smelliest flowers have bloomed at the Eden Project, creating a bit of a stir for the visitors visiting the Project, which is a great day out and not far from our cottages in Cornwall.
This is the first time two of the titan arums flowers have bloomed simultaneously. As it is known for being the smelliest flower in the world, it is double the pong for visitors to Eden. The plant, originating from the rainforest in Sumatra, Indonesia, is very rare in the wild.
Located in an ‘avenue of stench’ in Eden’s Rainforest Biome, there is also a third flower set to bloom very soon. The larger flower of the two started blooming earlier this week.
The proper name for the flower is Amorphophallus titanium, but they are also known by the name of corpse flowers because of the horrendous odour they give off. The smell attracts pollinators like beetles and flies, and is similar to the smell of decaying fish – definitely not one to put in your garden!
Having all three flowers blooming at the same stage in a unique event at Eden and is down to the dedication of horticulturist Tim Grigg, who has hand pollinated the titans and worked with them since he was 18.
He said: “I am really proud that we have two of these spectacular plants blooming at the same time, an incredibly rare occurrence since titan arums only flower for up to 48 hours at a time.
“This is a unique opportunity for Eden visitors to experience these flowers up close and get double the pong from our ‘avenue of stench’.”
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Photo by: US Botanic Gardens
