Big Stinky Flower Blooms in Tokyo
The media has been excited the last few days about the rare blooming of a titan arum (the world’s largest flower) at a garden in Tokyo. Here are a few videos of the flower:
At the Koishikawa Botanical Gardens — managed by the University of Tokyo — the titan arum bloomed for the first time in 1991. The plant that flowered just recently was grown from a seed given by an American researcher in 1993.
On the afternoon of July 22, the leaves surrounding the 1.5-meter-tall stem began to open. The plant reached “full bloom” at around 7 p.m. the same day, with a diameter of about 80 centimeters.
The distinctive feature of the titan arum is its strong smell reminiscent of rotten meat, which the plant gives off to attract insects for pollination.
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