Amorphophallus gigas at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on January 22, 2025. Photo credit: Peter Slattery/BBG
New York City’s favorite funky-smelling flower is preparing to bloom in Brooklyn. “Amorphophallus gigas,” nicknamed the “corpse flower” for the rotting flesh odor it emits, is expected to blossom at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden this week. The foul flower blooms every two to 10 years and only lasts a few days.
Native to Sumatra in Indonesia, “Amorphophallus gigas” is smaller than the “Amorphophallus titanum,” which is a larger corpse flower with a spadix that can grow up to 12 feet. The titan corpse flower bloomed at the New York Botanical Garden in 2023.
When fully in bloom, the flower gives off a stench sometimes described as rotting meat to attract pollinators that feed on dead animals.
“Amorphophallus gigas is a close relative of the more common in cultivation Amorphophallus titanum, the corpse flower that often makes the news,” BBG gardener Chris Sprindis said. “I think this is an equally impressive species, though less known in cultivation. Like the titanum, it will smell like rotting flesh.”
The flower is in the garden’s Aquatic House, which houses tropical and subtropical aquatic and wet-environment plants and a collection of orchids.
The garden’s hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission costs $22 for adults; on winter weekdays through February, tickets are pay-what-you-wish.
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