GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - What's that smell?!
It's the corpse flower at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. The bloom of the rare flower, Amorphophallus titanum (commonly known as the corpse flower) began to bloom late Wednesday, July 11. lt's located in the Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory.
It hit peak bloom just before 7 a.m. Thursday, July 12, and the Gardens' think it will be fully closed by the end of the day on Friday. As of Friday morning, it closed 9 inches, measuring 25 inches across compared to 34 inches the day before. As for the smell? It's about 90 percent gone as of Friday morning.
►Related: Plant that smells like 'rotting meat' to bloom for the first time at Frederik Meijer Gardens
According to Meijer Gardens, The corpse flower -- also called titan arum -- is one of the largest and rarest flowering plants in the world. It can take up to a decade to produce a flowering structure and when it blooms is open for only 24 to 36 hours. The corpse flower gets its name from its smell when it blooms.
The rare flower has been 18 years in the making at Meijer Garden.
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