Raising a stink! Cornell corpse plant set to bloom

• Cornell University’s rare corpse plant is set to bloom early this week. It bloomed first in 2012
• Free open house viewing for the plant runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Extended hours will be set once the plant blooms

ITHACA – When Cornell University’s corpse plant first bloomed in 2012, scientists feared that the process could kill the rare rainforest native.

But now the plant, named Wee Stinky, is set to open a second time, and it’s far from pushing up daises — though a rotting-meat odor will soon suggest otherwise.

It’s difficult to predict the exact timing of the bloom, said Paul Cooper, the greenhouse grower who oversees the plant’s growth.

“I think maybe sometime Tuesday or later,” said Cooper, who had to revise his earlier prediction of Monday after the plant growth slowed.

Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences set up viewing hours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, with extended hours until 9 p.m. the day of the bloom. The plant is on display in the Kenneth Post Lab's Greenhouse 114 at 512 Tower Road.

For those who cannot get to the greenhouse, a webcam is streaming images at titanarum.cals.cornell.edu/video/.

Wee Stinky, a titan arum, will be accompanied by its three babies, which were produced during the 2012 pollination. The baby plants stand about 4 feet tall, according to College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Greenhouses Manager Andrew Leed.

“We’re really quite surprised that it’s flowering again this soon,” said Cornell plant biology associate professor Melissa Luckow. “We weren’t expecting it.”

The plant uses massive amounts of energy to open its giant spathe, which is a large, leaf-like part, and make seeds. The process can kill the corpse plant.

Since Wee Stinky produced seeds in 2012, it went dormant, and then it grew new leaves and a large spadix, a fleshy spike, which helps disperse the plant’s stench.

The rotting-meat smell during bloom imitates a dead carcass, and that attracts carrion flies and beetles. “Nobody’s done a pollination study in the wild, and we’re not really sure what pollinates it nature — we know what visits it,” Luckow said.

Though the plant’s appearance and smell during blossom can evoke the fictional, man-eating monster characterized in 1960’s movie “Little Shop of Horrors,” Luckow said Wee Stinky isn’t carnivorous. The plant produces its own food from sunlight and nutrients in the soil, she said.

The plant is listed on the World Conservation Union’s Red List of Threatened Species.

“Something this big and remarkable, you think would be protected, but it’s not,” Luckow added.

The titan arum’s habitat in Sumatran rainforests is being converted to space for growing the plants that produce palm oil, according to Luckow.

“We’re hoping that people can gain a real appreciation for plants from coming to see it, and also think about how to conserve plants, not just in Sumatra but also here in the Northeast.”

Includes reporting by staff writer Shawnee A. Barnes.

Follow Wee Stinky’s progress

• The Spadix Speaks: Cornell’s Titan Arum Blog: titanarum.cals.cornell.edu/posts/

• Livestream of the plant: titanarum.cals.cornell.edu/video/

• Twitter hashtag: #WeeStinky