Quick Take
A corpse flower at UC Santa Cruz is getting ready to bloom for only the second time since it arrived in 2012, and it could open right around Halloween. The bloom is short-lived and smells terrible, and it could pull in big crowds again. In 2022, thousands of people came to see (and smell) it.
With Halloween around the corner, the scent of rotting flesh from a rare corpse flower bloom couldn’t have come at a better time.
That’s right. The UC Santa Cruz corpse flower is about to bloom again.
It previously bloomed four years ago, on Aug. 2, 2022, when it attracted thousands of visitors eager to experience its unique scent. This will be the plant’s second-ever bloom at UCSC.
UCSC Arboretum Executive Director Rick Flores told Lookout on Monday that staff were surprised and excited when they realized just over a week ago that the plant was about to bloom. It typically takes five to eight years to bloom again.
“Every four years is kind of early as we understand it,” he said. “When the large petal-like structure does actually open, it’s only going to be open for a day. All those things combined make it a super special plant experience to see.”
Also known as a titan arum, the plant is not just a single flower but rather a cluster of many flowers, called an inflorescence. When the plant opens, it emits a foul odor that draws in flies and other insects attracted to the rotting flesh smell. The bugs then pollinate the flowers, which are on a large spike called a spadix. The spadix grows out of a deep magenta red bract or modified leaf.
Flores said staff expect the bloom to happen within the next week or week and a half, and blooms tend to start in the late afternoon or evening. After the 24-hour smelly bloom, the flower collapses on itself and eventually disintegrates.
The corpse flower, which is endangered, is endemic to the tropical forests of Sumatra in Indonesia.
During the previous bloom in 2022, Flores recalls, staff thought the flower would bloom sometime shortly after they announced it to the public in mid-July but it took its time, leading staff to think the plant would “abort” the bloom. But overnight on Aug. 2, the corpse flower opened.
Flores said the reaction four years ago was “crazy.” Community members checked the arboretum’s Instagram account for updates, people made T-shirts for the event, and once it bloomed, they lined up to take a look — and get a whiff of the corpse flower.
Flores thinks that the bloom four years ago could have been delayed because the staff moved the plant from its warm greenhouse home to a colder, outside viewing area near the horticulture room. This year, the plant will remain in a warm greenhouse where the public will be able to view it, and staff expect it won’t be delayed this time.
The plant was given to UCSC in 2012 after it was started from seed at UC Davis. Former and current directors of UCSC Greenhouses, Jim Velzy and Sylvie Childress, have cared for the plant since then, ensuring it thrives in a tropical climate similar to the Sumatra region where it originated.
“It’s a super fun plant to grow,” Childress told Lookout. “Students love to come and see it.”
She said for her it smells somewhere between “rotting flesh and stinking socks.”
Childress added that staff have reached out to other botanic gardens to try to get a delivery of pollen from a different bloom to pollinate their flower. If they can pollinate the plant, they can save seeds from it and grow more plants for their collection.
“It’s a great plant for getting people hooked on plants, plant ecology and also conservation,” she said. “Because it’s a rare plant in the wild and in Sumatra where it’s from.”
What to know
Flores says the public can stay up to date on the flower’s progress through the arboretum’s Instagram account. With or without blooming, the plant will be on public display starting Wednesday during normal open hours, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
On the day the corpse flower blooms, arboretum staff will send out an announcement and offer extended hours for visitors from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
For folks interested in visiting, the arboretum and botanic garden is located on the east side of High Street, about a half-mile past the main campus entrance. To get the route there, use the address “1 Arboretum Road.”
Once the plant blooms, arboretum staff are encouraging community members to walk, carpool, Uber/Lyft, take public transportation or bike to visit because parking is limited. Parking on Empire Grade is prohibited.
If the arboretum parking lot is full, staff ask that visitors park at the UCSC East Remote or other campus lot and walk to the arboretum or take a city or campus loop bus. For visitor parking details and parking permits, click here.
Admission is $13 for adults, $10 for seniors, $7 for youth ages 4 to 17 and free for kids under 4, for arboretum members and UCSC students.
