CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — A rare plant known for its foul and intense smell is blooming at the Missouri Botanical Garden's Butterfly House in Chesterfield.
Calli was the first titan arum, or as it's more commonly known, "corpse flower," at the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House.
The flower was still on display at Butterfly House Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. so people can watch the smelly oddity bloom.
She's a sibling of the corpse flower Millie, who bloomed earlier this summer at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Species lists the plant, native to Indonesia, as endangered.
Many travel in the hopes of catching a rare corpse flower blooming, which often lasts just 24 hours and emits an odor that mimics rotting flesh. It's a long process in the making, as it can take a corpse flower 5 to 10 years to go from seed to its first bloom.
"I have always stressed how a flower’s sole purpose is to attract the pollinator,” MoBOT Horticulturist Emily Colletti said in a statement. “Size, shape, color and smell are all about attracting a pollinator. The Butterfly House, whose mission is to highlight plant/pollinator relationships, is the perfect place to host this odoriferous giant of the plant kingdom."
The Butterfly House will provide an update on social media when the corpse flower is set to bloom, according to MoBOT.
Because corpse flowers usually open in the late afternoon and peak after dark, the Butterfly House plans to stay open late on the evening of the bloom.
Watch the Calli grow on the livestream below:
