"Franklin Park Zoo, visitors bask in the glory of the ‘corpse flower’" by Adam Sege | Globe Correspondent, June 20, 2012
Kitty litter. Sweat. An aquarium.
That’s how three visitors described the aroma of Morticia, the Franklin Park Zoo’s most famous flower, after waiting in line half an hour for a whiff.
Morticia reached full bloom Tuesday night, an event that lasts less than two days and occurs once every 15 years for Amorphophallus titanum, commonly called a “corpse flower.”
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Zoo officials say about 30 corpse flowers have bloomed in captivity. In order to survive, the 200-pound flower needs conditions similar to those in its native western Indonesia, with a temperature of 82 degrees and a humidity level between 80 and 90 percent....
During a free viewing Wednesday morning, hundreds lined up in intense heat to see, and smell, the blooming flower for themselves.
The corpse flower takes its name from its aroma, which many compare to that of rotting flesh.
Many who visited Wednesday had their own descriptions....
Gabe Harris, 12, of West Roxbury said he felt “kind of relieved” that Morticia’s odor had not lived up to his expectations.
“It didn’t smell as bad as I thought it would,” Harris said. “Trash smells worse.”
Along with his mother, Harris brought along his friend Connor Lewis, from Hyde Park.
“I knew he would be glad to come see it, because it was called a ‘corpse flower,’ ” Harris said.
“I just want to smell a dead corpse,” said Lewis.
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How do you know it wasn't the zoo itself?
