Full of funk, and now fully in bloom, a rare double-stemmed 鈥渃orpse flower鈥� is stinking up Eastern 海角换妻 State University in Willimantic this week.
The plant, (scientific name 鈥淎morphophallus titanum鈥�), reaches its first bloom after about 10 years.
When it does, this alien-looking flower unleashes an absolutely atrocious smell 鈥� a m茅lange of rotting fish and feces, according to Bryan Connolly, an associate professor of biology at the school.
Still, eager observers are flocking to Willimantic to get a glimpse 鈥� and a whiff.
Several hundred people formed a line out the door Tuesday night, including visitors from Boston and Texas. On Wednesday, university spokesperson Ryan Quigley bravely stood inside the busy greenhouse and described the foul stench.
"I would say it's like if you've ever smelled something that makes you wanna throw up, that would be the smell. You also do get used to it, believe it or not," Quigley said. "I was in here for about two hours last night and I, kind of, lost my sense of smell. But if I went close to it, all of a sudden you get that whiff again and you're like, 'Oh my God, this is disgusting.'"
But the display 鈥� and its notorious stench 鈥� will be short-lived. The bloom is expected to last about three days, school officials said.
Native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra, corpse flowers are rare in their native jungle habitat. For decades, they鈥檝e been cultivated in greenhouses, but catching one in blossom is a rare, and memorably smelly, event.
Eastern's greenhouse contains two genetic individuals and several clones of corpse flower, according to the school.
The flower is blooming in the university's greenhouse in the David G. Carter Science Building. It will be open to the public until 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Unable to go? It won鈥檛 be smelly, but .
This story has been updated. 海角换妻's Janae Spinato, Dave Wurtzel and Patrick Skahill contributed to this post.
