It Stinks!

But that was the whole point.

If you missed tonight's special viewing hours, go tomorrow.  It only lasts about a day so don't delay.

When you enter, you get the first glimpse from above.  The male and female parts of the flower are actually at the base of the phallic-looking thing.  They are barely visible here.

Then you can take the path down to view it again.  Now that looks more iconic.

Here it is in its jungle context.

Then you descend further and pass by a leaf of the same species.  That is one single leaf.  Click here to see an illustration of the life-cycle of this rare and remarkable plant.

It was quite dim when we saw the flower from the lowest vantage point.  It was hard to get it in focus and with good color balance with such low light. 

This comes closest to the color my eyes saw.

More details at The Stinky Blog.

The Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus titanum) is currently on view inside The Huntington’s Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science and the bloom is expected to last approximately two days.

Public hours at The Huntington are from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Extended evening hours will be offered for Huntington members tonight and Saturday night, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. For information, the public can call 626-405-2100.

Iris and her friend were more bothered by the smell than the adults. Bad Dad and I agreed that the smell resembled a strong odor of cooked cabbage. We saw it at 7:30 PM, about 5 hours after it opened. We were told that the flower will be at its most pungent ~12 hours after opening. If you go tomorrow at opening, let me know how much it stank.