'Corpse flower' bloom could stink up Texas wedding

[allyssa]

Houston — The Associated Press Published on Friday, Jul. 23, 2010 11:49AM EDT Last updated on Friday, Jul. 23, 2010 1:24PM EDT

The flower girl at Jessica Zabala's wedding is purple, six-feet-tall, uninvited and smells like dead bodies.

She is Lois, a rare “corpse flower,” deemed the world's stinkiest bud.

Lois is unexpectedly blooming in the Houston Museum of Natural Science, in the room right next to where Ms. Zabala is marrying Jonathan Smith on Saturday.

“I don't need a florist anymore,” Ms. Zabala laughs. “I've got Lois.”

The flower is an Amorphophallus titanum, which has only ever bloomed 29 times in the United States. It's happened twice in Texas, but never before at the museum's Cockrell Butterfly Center, which hosts about 50 weddings a year.

“I did not know that Lois was quietly sprouting in the greenhouse across the street,” Ms. Zabala said, donning an “I Love Lois” button given to her by the museum.

Deforestation has left the flower endangered in its native tropical rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, said Nancy Greig, the butterfly center's director. Six years ago, the center paid $75 for a “little walnut-sized tuber” from a Raleigh, N.C., nursery that specializes in exotic plants.

The flower's dead-body smell attracts the flies and beetles it needs to pollinate. Many only bloom once. It can only blossom after it is seven years old and weighs 13 kilograms, exactly the size of Houston's plant.

Lois was about two-thirds of the way to full bloom by Thursday and between 3,000 and 4,000 people were visiting daily. She will only stay open about two days, and the smell generally dissipates within 12 hours, Ms. Greig said.

Museum experts initially thought she would bloom two weeks ago and Ms. Greig was certain the stench would overtake the museum by Thursday.

“But she has not turned on the funk yet,” Ms. Greig said.

So Ms. Zabala and Mr. Smith remain uncertain. Will their wedding stink?

Lois will decide.

[Ben Lahnger]

Yeah, they're making a big deal about that here in Houston. It gets mentioned on every local newscast ... the Lois watch is everywhere. I personally can't imagine so many people being obsessed with knowing when the Corpse Flower blooms so they can go to the museum and enjoy the aroma of rotting flesh wafting from it's petals. Not for me, thanks.

I feel sorry for the "lucky" couple ... the news at noon today reported the bloom is half open, so I don't think the plant is worried about the timing.

[Renatus]

Milwaukee almost had one bloom, but unfortunately it failed.

Actually I'm not sure if that is fortunate or unfortunate.

[Li'l Miss Sticky Kiss]

I have been to see the flower in Houston but the last time is was hardly open at all and did not stink very much. Going back to the museum tonight or tomorrow morning before I go to work. It is not that I want to smell rotting flesh, but that I want to see the the rare bloom. It is said to be a beautiful purple and very big. I like also that the plant get to human body temp. to emit its smell. Not many plants like that here in America, and the plant only opens once it its life.