CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — A rare plant known for its foul and intense smell is set to bloom next week at the Missouri Botanical Garden's Butterfly House in Chesterfield.
Calli will be the first titan arum, or as it's more commonly known, "corpse flower," to bloom at the Butterfly House, according to a release from the garden.
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."
Corpse flower Calli is currently on display at the Butterfly House's Tropical Conservatory, with viewing included in the cost of admission from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
She is expected to bloom sometime between July 30 and Aug. 4, according to MoBOT. In anticipation, the Butterfly House will be open on July 29, despite normally being closed on Mondays.
Click here to purchase tickets.
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. Admission will be free that night.
Watch the Calli grow on the livestream below:
