A corpse flower, Amorphophallus gigas, at Brooklyn Botanic Garden Chris Sprindis/Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Recently, at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York, I had a dream come true. I got a whiff of one of the world’s stinkiest plants: a corpse flower called Amorphophallus gigas (pictured above), cousin of Amorphophallus titanum, which grabs headlines whenever one blooms.
The A. gigas I saw was standing about 2 metres high in a suffocatingly hot greenhouse. As I entered and took my first sniff, I must admit I was underwhelmed. It smelled only mildly unpleasant, a bit mildewy, certainly not the stench…
