NYT: Thousands Stop to Smell a Flower (and Hope Not to Gag)

[Omaha Steve]

The corpse flower at the Denver Botanic Gardens was surrounded by spectators on Wednesday. The plant typically takes eight to 20 years to bloom for the first time and emit its odor.

Credit Theo Stroomer for The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/22/us/thousands-stop-to-smell-a-flower-and-hope-not-to-gag.html?emc=edit_th_20150822&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=58529908&_r=1

By JULIE TURKEWITZAUG. 21, 2015

DENVER — It felt as if all of Denver was there, clutching their souvenir motion sickness bags and taking selfies as they waited for hours — and hours — for a glimpse and a whiff of this city’s celebrity of the moment: the corpse flower.

For years this city has anticipated the bloom of this plant, a green and purple giant that opens for less than 48 hours and emits a perfume that botanists liken to that of rotting flesh. While the evolutionary purpose of the scent is to attract pollinating bugs that normally feed on dead animals, the smell had the effect of attracting thousands of visitors this week to the Denver Botanic Gardens, where they stood in a snaking line for their moment with the stinky star.

“It’s the equivalent of the circus coming to town,” said Alan Walker, 65, a volunteer who stood at the entrance to the gardens on Wednesday amid a sea of stroller-pushing parents and children in sun hats. He confided that while he is a plant lover, he found it odd that “all these people would line up for something that smells like a combination of Limburger cheese and gym socks.”


Ella Hurley, 10, smelled the corpse flower through a vent on Wednesday. Credit Theo Stroomer for The New York Times
Inside the gardens, the guest of honor sat perched inside a greenhouse window, its wrinkled yellow spadix — the pointy center part — thrust upward, and its ruffled maroon spathe flaring outward. Garden workers had rolled out a red carpet at its feet, and families took turns posing for pictures in the flower’s midst.

FULL story at link.

[livetohike]

1. I thought this might be another Trump post.