Hold your nose: A 'corpse flower' is expected to bloom this week at UNCC

The corpse flower at the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens, named Rotney, is expected to unfurl its odiferous bloom Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

Workers are closely monitoring a plant called Amorphophallus titanum or Titan Arum for short. A native of the jungles of Sumatra, the plant produces the world's tallest floral structures, soaring up to 10 feet high.

But there's more to the "corpse flower," as it's also called. During its brief bloom — as short as 12 hours, years apart — the massive flower emits a powerful stink that has been compared to burnt or rotting flesh. Others are reminded of limburger cheese, rotting fish or sweaty socks.

"I liken it to roadkill. Really sun-ripened roadkill," says the gardens' greenhouse manager, Tammy Blume. "Early in the morning, when we open up the greenhouse after it’s been closed up all night, you can't stay in there. You have to open up the vents and get out."

Staff members have trained a live webcam on the plant so the public can track its flowering, and expect crowds to come see it in person. The McMillan Greenhouse, which houses the plant, is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays.

The flower's odor is more than a little joke of nature. In the wild, it attracts carrion-eating beetles and flesh-eating flies from up to a half-mile away. The flower's blood red color mimics a piece of meat, further tricking the insects into pollinating the plant.

Humans, naturally, also crave the experience. About 4,000 people lined up to see UNCC's first corpse flower bloom, named Bella, in 2007. Bella bloomed again in 2010, then died. Another plant, named Odie, drew crowds in 2015. A corpse flower at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Belmont also bloomed that year.

The university acquired the plant now blooming in 2008. The Botanical Gardens had a naming contest for the flower on Facebook, choosing Rotney over entries including Amy la Peuw, Mort and DEADalus.

"They spend 10 to 12 years absorbing enough energy in the bulb to have enough energy to produce this flower," Blume said. The bulb alone weighs 50 pounds. The above-ground portion of the plant, including a flower bud that emerged in late March, stood 28 inches high this week.

After the flower dies, the plant will grown a single massive leaf on a towering stalk.

This story was originally published May 1, 2018 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Hold your nose: A 'corpse flower' is expected to bloom this week at UNCC."