The Corpse Flower: Description, Life Cycle, Facts, and More

The corpse flower is a flowering plant known for having the biggest flower in the world, though it is actually the world's largest unbranched inflorescence — a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem. Also known as titan arum, the corpse flower's scientific name provides a literal description of the plant's inflorescences; Amorphophallus titanum translated from Ancient Greek means giant, misshapen, phallus. The plant's common name refers to the odor that emanates from the blooms, said to be reminiscent of rotting flesh. Description
Native to the rainforests of Sumatra, the corpse flower belongs in a category of plants known for having carrion flowers, or blooms that smell like rotting animals, to attract scavengers as pollinators. A member of the Araceae family, this plant is related to several popular houseplants including philodendrons, calla lilies, and peace lilies, with all sharing a unique flower structure comprised of multiple elements that appear to be a single flower. (More details on flower structure below).

Corpse flowers have a long life span, 30-40 years, and they bloom quite rarely, on average every 7-10 years. An Italian botanist named Odoardo Beccari collected seeds from the corpse flower while traveling through Sumatra in the late 1870s and shipped them to the Kew Botanic Gardens in the United Kingdom, where the first titan arum bloomed outside of its native distribution in 1889. Eventually, the plant made its way to select botanical gardens in the United States, first blooming in the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx (NYBG) in 1937 (it was named the borough's official flower until the day lily replaced it in 2000).