Como Zoo in Minnesota Gives Update on Strange, Smelly Corpse Flower

This spring, something stank up Minnesota. Ok, it only stank up part of Minnesota. It's a really strange plant that's proudly owned by the Como Zoo in St. Paul.

People flocked to the zoo in May to see this odd plant. But why?

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What is a Corpse Flower?

Something named a corpse flower doesn't sound too appealing, does it? But a corpse flower is actually an endangered plant that comes from Indonesia. Many places are studying the corpse flower and trying to save them, including the Como Zoo and the United States Botanic Garden.

The big draw of the corpse flower to tourists is its very unpredictable and short bloom time, its size, and its disgusting smell. Yes, people travel to smell something bad. It's weird, I know.

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The corpse flower only blooms once every few years, but it can be unpredictable. The USBG says "the plant blooms only when sufficient energy is accumulated" which means it could bloom every few years or not for a decade plus.

And then, when it does bloom, it's only for a maximum of 3 days. It's kind of wild!

The other crazy part about this flower is how big it gets. In its natural environment is can grow up to 12 feet tall! But in botanical gardens, it grows up to 8 feet, which is still insanely impressive.

And then you've got the not-so-nice and yet still very intriguing part of the corpse flower: its smell. When the flower blooms it gives off this horrible smell that is compared to the smell of rotting flesh. This is to entice "corpse-attracted pollinators, such as carrion beetles and flies, from across long distances." Those pollinators then come to collect the pollen and do their job to distribute the plant elsewhere.

Corpse Flower Bloom in Minnesota

This May, the corpse flower, named Horace, at the Como Zoo bloomed! I believe this was the first time since the Como Zoo acquired Horace that he bloomed, so this was very exciting.

There was a live stream online and everything. People were traveling to see (and smell) the flower and news stations were doing reports on it.

Around the end of May, Horace finally bloomed after much anticipation and the smell was awful from what I hear. WCCO quoted a guest saying it smelled like hot garbage. And yet, people waited hours to see it.

After just a few days, Horace's blooming was over and the smell went away. So now what?

Como Zoo Provides an Update on Their Corpse Flower

Just the other day, the Como Zoo provided an update on Horace! Horace is now in what's called the vegetative state. He looks like a whole tree but technically he's just one leaf.

The Como Zoo writes, "This incredible leaf will likely last for about a year before dying back. Horace will need to go through a few more cycles of leaf growth and dormancy (senescence) before treating us to another bloom in a few years."

We'll have to keep an eye on the Como Zoo's social media and website for Horace updates in a few years if you want to catch him in bloom! But how cool to watch such a unique and strange plant go through its lifecycle right here in Minnesota.