Rare corpse flower to bloom at UC Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — An Indonesian flower famous for its foul odor is expected to unfurl its putrid blossom within the next week at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The school says its greenhouse will be open to the public during the one-day blooming of the so-called corpse flower.

Unlike other flowers that rely on bees for pollination, this one counts on flies. It attracts them with the smell of rotting flesh, and they in turn spread its sticky pollen.

Its nauseating scent comes from two sulfur-producing chemicals within its leaves.

The UCSB plant is 4 feet tall and growing rapidly. A live webcam of the plant can be found on the school's website.

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Ohio State awaits bloom of stinky corpse flower

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Researchers at an Ohio State University greenhouse are awaiting a rare second bloom by a rainforest plant known as a corpse flower because of its unpleasant odor.

The university says the nearly 6-foot titan arum is expected to open this week, releasing another round of its rotting-flesh smell a little more than two years after it first flowered.

A second corpse flower opened briefly at the greenhouse last May.

A university spokeswoman tells The Columbus Dispatch (http://bit.ly/15FLGSU ) cultivators are lucky to have three blooms in three years. Each brief bloom attracts visitors hoping to catch a glimpse or a whiff of it.

The plant expected to bloom soon is nicknamed Woody, after Buckeyes football coach Woody Hayes.

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Online:

Ohio State University greenhouse updates: http://bioscigreenhouse.osu.edu/titan-arum

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Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

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