‘Titan VanCoug,’ WSU’s stinky corpse flower, blooming on Vancouver campus

VANCOUVER, Wash. — A rare flower is blooming at Washington State University, but it doesn’t have the sweet smell of your favorite blooms.

The university’s corpse flower, named Titan VanCoug, is in bloom at WSU’s Vancouver campus.

This is the second time the plant has bloomed. The last time it bloomed was in July 2019, 17 years after it was planted.

The corpse flower’s name comes from its smell, which experts describe as rotting flesh, when it blooms. The purpose of its rancid smell is to attract insects that usually feed on dead animals. Those insects then carry pollen from one plant to another.

The corpse flower is native to the rain forests of central Sumatra in Indonesia.

The plant was raised by Associate Professor of Molecular Biosciences Steve Sylvester, who planted a seed from another university’s titan arum plant in 2002.

The plant was grown in a pot on his desk until it grew too large. It then grew in a stairwell in WSU Vancouver’s Science and Engineering Building for some time.

A livestream of the plant and its visitors can be watched below.

Find information about seeing the flower in person at this link, but hurry, the blooms only last 24 to 48 hours.

©2022 Cox Media Group