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'Corpse Flower': See it without smelling it...
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The "corpse flower" is alive at Michigan State University.
But good times won't last forever.
The 5-foot-tall Amorphophallus titanum that began flowering Friday for the first time in about 15 years at the East Lansing school is expected to finish bloooming Tuesday.
Mike Grillo, a Ph.D. student, tells the Lansing State Journal that the randomly flowering plant "looks like something meaty that's dead" and seduces flies and carrion beetles by emitting a pungent perfume akin to putrid smelling rotting flesh. Portions of its large leaves are blood-colored burgundy.
About 500 MSU greenhouse visitors have viewed the plant, which naturally grows in the equatorial rainforests of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Grillo said the plant will lie dormant for several months before regrowing.
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Information from: Lansing State Journal, http://www.lansingstatejournal.com
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
In this Monday, June 14, 2010 photo, an unidentified woman walks past the the large and rare Amorphophallus titanum or 'corpse flower.' (AP Photo/Lansing State Journal, Rod Sanford)
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