Here is the text-only result:
An endangered plant known as the “corpse flower” for its putrid stink is blooming in Australia – and captivating the internet in the process, with thousands already tuned in to a livestream to witness its grand debut.
The titan arum plant, housed in the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney, blooms only once every few years for just 24 hours.
Affectionately dubbed Putricia, it will release a smell described as “wet socks, hot cat food, or rotting possum flesh”.
The long wait to see Putricia fully unfurl has spawned jokes and even a unique lingo in the livestream’s chat, with thousands commenting “WWTF”, or “We Watch the Flower”.
The livestream attracted more than 8,000 simultaneous viewers on Thursday, doubling within hours as the plant’s appearance slowly changed.
John Siemon, director of horticulture and living collections at the gardens, compared the spectacle to Sydney’s 2000 Olympics, saying “we’ve had 15,000 people come through the gates before it [the flower] even opened”.
This specimen is around 10 years old. We acquired it from our colleagues in LA Botanic Garden at the age of three, and we’ve been nurturing it for the last seven years…
The plant can only be found in the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, where it is known as bunga bangkai – or “corpse flower” in Indonesian…
When in bloom, the plant’s long yellow spadix emits a strong odour, often compared to the smell of decaying flesh, to trick pollinators into landing on what they think is rotten meat so they can move pollen between male and female specimens.
It has the world’s largest flowering structure, as it can grow up to 3m (10 feet) tall and weigh up to 150kg…
It is endangered in the wild due to deforestation and land degradation…
Source link
