Stinky bloom of 'corpse flower' enthrals thousands

An endangered plant, known as the "corpse flower" due to its putrid odor, is blooming in Australia, attracting the attention of numerous online viewers. Thousands have tuned in to live streams to witness its grand opening, sharing this rare moment together.

This plant, called the titan arum and affectionately nicknamed "Putricia" by the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, blooms only once every few years, and the flowering period lasts only 24 hours. It is described as emitting a smell similar to "wet socks, hot cat food, or rotting possum meat."

While waiting for Putricia to fully bloom, online viewers have created unique "lingo" in the live stream chat, such as "WWTF" (We Watch the Flower), sparking many amusing comments and jokes. On Thursday, the live stream had over 8,000 concurrent viewers, and the number doubled within hours as the flower's appearance slowly changed.

John Siemon, the Botanic Garden's manager of horticulture and living collections, compared the event to the Sydney 2000 Olympics, saying, "We had 15,000 people come in before the flower even opened." He also revealed to the BBC's Newsday program, "The plant is about 10 years old. We got it from our colleagues at the Los Angeles Botanic Garden when it was three, and we've been nurturing it for the past seven years."

The live stream showed Putricia slowly beginning to bloom after several days of stillness. Viewers will see her unfurl her deep red or purplish-red spathe, surrounding a large central spadix. The Botanic Garden stated that it is currently "difficult to accurately predict" when Putricia will fully bloom, but this has not stopped thousands of online viewers from keeping watch.

One viewer commented, "I’m back to check on Putricia, and I see she is still taking her sweet time like the queen she is, fair play." Another viewer said, "This is the slowest striptease ever." Another wrote, "I stayed up watching, fell asleep, woke up, watched some more, fell asleep again. I'm weak, but Putricia is strong. WWTF."

Other popular acronyms include WDNRP (We Do Not Rush Putricia) and BBTB (Blessed Be The Bloom). This plant only grows in the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, where it is called "bunga bangkai," which translates to "corpse flower" in Indonesian.

The scientific name for the titan arum is _Amorphophallus titanum_, derived from ancient Greek, meaning "giant misshapen penis." When it blooms, its long, yellow spadix emits a strong odor, often compared to rotting meat, to trick pollinators into thinking it is carrion, thus spreading pollen between male and female plants. It has the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world, and can grow up to 3 meters (10 feet) tall and weigh up to 150 kilograms.

Due to deforestation and land degradation, the titan arum is endangered in the wild. Putricia is one of several titan arums at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, which last saw it bloom 15 years ago. In recent years, other Australian botanic gardens, such as those in Melbourne and Adelaide, have also experienced corpse flower blooms, each attracting thousands of curious visitors to witness the spectacle.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London also has a collection of titan arums, one of which bloomed last June. The titan arum first bloomed outside of Sumatra at Kew in 1889.