“Corpse Flower” Expected To Bloom Any Day Now!

CHARLOTTE, NC.– Thousands are expected to flood UNC Charlotte botanical gardens to get a whiff of a rare plant. It doesn’t bloom very often, but it reeks! ‘Rotney the Magnifiscent’ is a rare Indonesian plant that blooms every 5 to 7 years. Otherwise known as ‘corpse flower’.

“Dog droppings might be mixed in there a little bit. It’s a pretty intense, pretty bad odor,” says Director of UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens Dr. Jeff Gillman.

Rotney is a rare case. It hasn’t bloomed in 13 years. When it does, you’ll be able to smell Rotney’s foul stench across parts the UNC Charlotte campus.

“Even though the plant is inside the greenhouse here, people will still be able to get the sent from about 100 yards away outside the greenhouse.”

Its funky smell will be intense for about 12 hours. Then the smell will subside and Rotney will be a pretty flower, but not for long.

“We’ll have about two days where it’s open and you can still appreciate how it looks without smelling that really intense dead body smell.”

Dr. Gillman predicts Rotney will bloom sometime between Wednesday and Friday. For updates you can click here