Residents of a California city are lining up to see and get a whiff of a rare giant flower whose odor has been compared to the stench of rotting flesh.
The flower, an amorphophallus titanium, which is commonly called a “corpse flower” because of the smell the flower emits, has been placed by its owner at an abandoned gas station in Alameda, California, near San Francisco.
“I grabbed my wagon, went down to my greenhouse, put it in with the help of a friend of mine, dragged it down here to this abandoned building and people just started showing up,” Solomon Leyva told The San Francisco Chronicle.
Just a really good dude who nurtured an ultra-rare corpse flower for years and on the day it bloomed decided to share it with his neighbors.https://t.co/fHNME8iQl3
— Peter Hartlaub (@peterhartlaub) May 19, 2021
Leyva said he estimated that by afternoon, some 1,200 people had come to see the giant plant.
There are fewer than 1,000 of the plants remaining in the wild, according to the US Botanic Garden. It can grow up to 12 feet tall and takes around a decade to bloom, during which time it releases its unusual smell to attract pollinators, and then dies within a few days.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Cox Media Group
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