Plant Kween ventures to the Missouri Botanical Garden to get a whiff of their blooming Corpse Flower.
Hundreds lined up to smell Nona, the ninth Corpse Flower to bloom at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Similar to the scent of rotting flesh, the stench of the Corpse Flower attracts unusual pollinators. While bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds are attracted to the sweet smell of most flowers, the Corpse Flower lures in flesh flies and carrion beetles.
These insects, who often lay their eggs in rotting flesh, are nocturnal. The Corpse Flower’s time blooming reflects these nocturnal habits.
So, to exhibit their smelly plant, the Missouri Botanical Garden reopened outside normal business hours to allow guests to view the Corpse Flower in its prime from 10pm to 1:30am.
The Missouri Botanical Garden estimates that over 600 people came to get a whiff of Nona as she was blooming.
