Oh Trudy. How we have missed you and your stench, akin to that of rotting flesh.
That’s right: the famous corpse flower, housed in UC Berkeley’s Botanical Garden, has bloomed once again. Over 2,250 individuals waited in hour-long lines to catch a glimpse (and a whiff) of the famous flower this past Sunday.
You may be wondering, with equal parts disgust and fascination, what the corpse flower actually smells like. Paul Licht, director of the garden, told KQED Science that the smell is like “the odor of a dead mammal, as opposed to a fish.” Licht adds on, “Or maybe a dead rat. A big dead rat. Or a dead cow.”
Some more fun facts about Trudy! This was the fourth time it bloomed since being planted 20 years ago. Trudy is a titan arum plant, or Amorphophallus titanum, meaning “giant misshapen penis.”
For those of you in the area who want to see and smell Trudy, it may be too late. Trudy, who is a “he,” is now in the process of wilting and producing pollen, according to Trudy’s progress tracker on the botanical garden website. Check out the site here to see what happens to Trudy next.
Will you go check out Trudy during the next bloom? Are you up for waiting over an hour to get to know this botanical feat? Let us know in the comments below!
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