{"id":174225,"date":"2018-07-31T03:26:12","date_gmt":"2018-07-31T07:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=174225"},"modified":"2018-07-31T03:26:12","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T07:26:12","slug":"stinky-corpse-flower-expected-bloom-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/07\/31\/stinky-corpse-flower-expected-bloom-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Stinky ‘corpse flower’ expected to bloom in California"},"content":{"rendered":"
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File Photo: \u201cThe problem with these flowers is that it’s always hard to tell because they always have a mind of their own, depending on the weather, depending on if it’s ready to bloom,\u201d Tam said. (Photo<\/a> by Tom C\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 A so-called corpse flower known for the rotten stench it releases appeared close to blooming Monday at the Huntington Library in Southern California.<\/p>\n

The plant nicknamed \u201cLi’l Stinker\u201d plumped up in the last few days and was likely to bloom Monday or Tuesday, said Brandon Tam, an orchid specialist at the Huntington.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with these flowers is that it’s always hard to tell because they always have a mind of their own, depending on the weather, depending on if it’s ready to bloom,\u201d Tam said.<\/p>\n

The plant got its nickname because at 44 inches tall (112 centimetres) it is smaller than a typical corpse flower, according to the Huntington.<\/p>\n

It is the sixth corpse flower to date at the institution in suburban San Marino. The previous bloom on Aug. 23, 2014, reached a height of 66 inches (167 centimetres).<\/p>\n

The formal name of the corpse flower is Amorphophallus titanum and it is native to the rainforests of Sumatra.<\/p>\n

It typically takes 15 years for a corpse flower to reach a mature blooming size, and there are now 45 in Huntington’s collection, Tam said.<\/p>\n

The 16-year-old plant is the offspring of a 2002 blooming. \u201cWe’re getting to that age where they’re all about to bloom fairly soon,\u201d Tam said.<\/p>\n

The foul odour attracts insects which aids pollination. The plants don’t emit the foul odour until the bloom, which usually lasts only 24 hours.<\/p>\n

The Huntington said there were around 50 visitors circling the plant Monday morning.<\/p>\n

The research and educational institution houses rare books, art collections and botanical gardens.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 A so-called corpse flower known for the rotten stench it releases appeared close to blooming Monday at …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":174228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-174225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lifestyle","mauthors-ariel-tu","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}