Trudy the "corpse flower" is in full bloom — and stench — at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden.
The titan arum plant, initially discovered in Sumatra, Indonesia in 1878, requires at minimum seven years to bloom. It garners widespread attention because of its enormous size and foul odor resembling rotten flesh.
Sir David Attenborough first used the name titan arum to refer to the tropical plant in the BBC series "The Private Lives of Plants" because he felt viewers might be offended by its Latin name Amorphophallus titanum.
UC Berkeley Botanical Garden officials said the flower's spathe began to spread around 5 p.m. Saturday. Only "infrequent blasts of odor were experienced" soon thereafter. [[318580711, C]]
Garden officials cut into the plant late Sunday afternoon to collect pollen and reveal the flower's "innermost secrets."
According to the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Facebook page, Trudy is a "he." The flower looked "more wilted" Monday morning and started producing pollen which is being collected through the "door" cut into its side. Garden officials compared the part that was removed to a "watermelon rind."
On Sunday afternoon, visitors said Trudy smelled less like a corpse and more like sweat, mold or a dead mouse.
U.S. & World
TRUDY is a 'he'. The 'flower' looks more wilted this morning and has started producing pollen which is being collected... Posted by University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley on Monday, July 27, 2015
Trudy the corpse flower is open and stinky! It'll only be smelly today. It's already wilting and by tomorrow will be... Posted by University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley on Sunday, July 26, 2015
WATCH: @UCGarden officials cut into corpse flower "Trudy" to collect pollen. http://t.co/kM5b1LDAEf [Video @arbose] https://t.co/RxFp8giKxi — NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) July 27, 2015
