Rare Corpse Flower Blooms at Rollins
Local News Staff 
The Amorphophallus titanum, also known as a corpse flower, is blossoming over at Rollins College, which is a stage in its life the plant undergoes during unpredictable spans of time from a few years to over a decade, according to the U.S. Botanic Garden.
Rollins’ corpse plant, affectionally named “Adsila,” began blooming at midnight, filling the greenhouse with a pungent, deathlike smell, said Rollins greenhouse manager Alan Chryst.
“It smells like Florida roadkill in the middle of summer after having been left there for a few days,” Chryst said.
The name corpse flower stems from the putrid smell it puts off in bloom, which is thought to lure in corpse-attracted pollinators, such as carrion beetles and flies. The plant’s blossom depends on how much energy it is able to store in its “corm” and requires special conditions, including warm day and night temperatures and high humidity, making botanic gardens — such as the Rollins College greenhouse — well suited. Corpse plants can be impressively big, being 7-feet tall and over 8-feet in diameter.
Rollins flowers are not available for public visitation due to some construction in a nearby parking lot and finals week in progress for students.
However, the experience can be seen on Rollins’ livestream and viewers can watch a time-lapse video of the 2016 blooming here.
