The world's largest and smelliest flower, known for its scent of rotting-flesh, is blooming once again just outside of Brussels in the Meise Botanic Garden.
The flowering of the Titan Arum, or Amorphophallus titanum, is a popular and highly anticipated event at the Botanic Garden. The first Titan Arum bloomed in the Meise Garden was in 2008, attracting over 8,000 visitors in just a few days. Its flowering is a "rare fragrance and colour spectacle" that tends to last up to 72 hours, the Botanic Garden noted in a press release.
In the wild, the plant is found in tropical forests in Sumatra and typically blooms between October and March during the rainy season. It is considered the largest flower in the world, with an inflorescence of over three metres tall. In addition to its impressive height, the strong rotting flesh smell, which is meant to attract insects, has made the flower popular worldwide.
A Titan Arum flower. Credit: Belga/Laurie Dieffembacq
However, the plant is threatened with extinction in the wild as large areas of its natural habitat have been cleared over the years for the collection of timber and to make space for palm oil plantations. By 2023, around 3.7 million hectares of tropical rainforest had been lost, according to the Meise Botanic Garden.
The Botanic Garden welcomes the blooming of the flower not only as an extraordinary event to attract visitors but also to raise awareness of the threats faced by the plant species.
Credit: Belga/Laurie Dieffembacq
The blooming of the Titan Arum remains a relatively rare and complicated process. This is the 21st time this plant has bloomed in the Botanic Garden.
Opening hours will be extended on Monday to allow more people to witness the Titan Arum in all its glory.
