The Titan Arum flower at the botanical garden in Meise began opening on Saturday, the garden’s authorities announced in a statement.
The event is all the more exceptional this year since the flower measures 255 cm, which is more than the preceding record, 237 cm, set in 2016.
This is the 16th flowering of the giant arum at the Meise Botanical Garden.
The Titan Arum, a rare species native to the tropical forests of Sumatra, has the largest inflorescence in the world. The flower lasts about 48 hours. It is both a visual spectacle and an olfactory one: the plant gives off a characteristic odour of rotting flesh that attracts pollinating insects.
"The flowering of this emblematic species is also an opportunity to draw attention to this endemic, threatened plant from Sumatra, whose habitat, the wet tropical forest, is disappearing dramatically due to deforestation,” the Meise Botanical Garden noted.
The garden will remain open up to 21:00 on flowering days, Saturday and Sunday.
