Binghamton University’s Corpse Flower Dies
Binghamton University’s celebrated, giant, stinky plant is dead. Ironically, the plant is commonly known as the “Corpse Flower” since it smells like rotting meat when it blooms.
The specimen Amorphophallus at the Vestal campus drew large crowds for the rare flowering and had produced a couple sprouts over the years before dying.
Appropriately, the university released an obituary for the plant, that was named “Metis,” in honor of the goddess of learning and teaching.
The Amorphophallus blooms only once every few years and the stench of the flower attracts pollinating flies.
When Metis bloomed in August, 2015, the greenhouse manager at the time, Laurie Bell, said the flower normally blossoms every 5 to 30 years, but the one at Binghamton University was happily growing and bloomed in 2010 and again in 2013.
The plants, which are native to Sumatra, can reach a height of 10 feet.