Does the corpse flower really smell like a corpse?
A former death investigator's take on the scent.
A corpse flower in bloom? Why, yes, I’d love to see her in action. In mid- June, the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan had one such plant set to bloom. As a former death investigator, I needed to know if the flower really did smell like a corpse.
Since the flower was originally suppose to bloom over a weekend, I drove the few hours to check her out and experience the stinky smell.
We arrived at the Gardens after doing a little shopping. There was no line which should have indicated that she wasn’t in the mood to bloom.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t blooming. She was beautiful even closed up. The colors were pale and slightly muted. We were able to speak to a volunteer overseeing the flower that gave us so much information. The endangered flower grows on the Indonesian island of Sumatra (I will probably never visit there so happy to see the plant here!). The plant grows from a corm that either blooms into a flower or a giant petal (it looks very tree-ish). The volunteer mentioned these plants get names only once they bloom and this plant was named “the beast”.
I asked if she knew how it felt, she didn’t know. As a constant plant honker, I was sad to know I’ll probably never be able to touch the flower. It looked spongy and soft. There was no smell at this point. Guess, I missed my opportunity.
We toured the gardens ( a separate post worthy ) and left feeling slightly cheated. Damn you, picky flower!
A few days later, the flower decided to grace the world with her fantastic self. After debating on driving the few hours, I decided why the hell not, I am not going to Sumatra anytime soon. It also helped that I had the day off.
Oh boy this visit as different than the last one. The gardens were busy. The lady selling tickets informed us that there was a two and half to three hour wait to see the flower!!
After approximately three hours, we made our way to the celebrity. Unfortunately, she had started to close. This happened last time I saw a corpse flower in Detroit. I believe she was open when we got there at 5pm, but we didn’t get to see her until 8pm. Either way, she was stunning. Everyone only got one group photo with the flower that a volunteer helped with. After getting our photo, I was able to stick my face close to the opening of the flower. It had a smell, but was not like a summer “hasn’t been seen in a couple of days” decomp. The smell was probably a littler fainter as it was mostly closed up. It reminded me of stinky trash on a hot summer night.
So you might be wondering what does a corpse smell like? It seemed liked everyone in line with us wanted to know. I heard pieces of multiple conversations that discussed the topic. Well it depends as it turns out how a corpse smells. Cold, heat, insects, food&drinks, medications, pathology, or trauma are all possible causes to a “corpse smell”. People who are found fast and refrigerated barely have a smell. On occasion, they smell of urine or feces. Cases with a lot of trauma that leads to blood loss smell like blood. Some decedents smell like alcohol. Thermal injuries smell, well, like burnt meat. The decomposing cases smell thick, damp, and slightly like rotting meat. The smell sometimes reminds me of something sweet like chocolate. The smell of a roadkill animal on a hot summer day is a good comparison. It is an unforgettable and recognizable smell.
Although, she was mostly closed, it was still a treat to see her. Hopefully, next time one blooms near me I’ll be able to see it fully open. It was also nice to see so many people interested in flowers. When we left there was still a three hour wait and they had stopped selling tickets.
According to this old ass article on Science, there have been fewer than 20 blooms in the USA since 1937. The number is definitely more now as that article was written in 2001. Here is a list of all the blooming corpse flowers around the world. In fact there were two other flowers blooming in Milwaukee at Mitchell Park Domes. Their names were Penelope and Pepe le Pew.
Check out this video of a corpse flower blooming.
This article from the United State Botanic Garden has a great write up about the flowers if you want further information.
