Rare, stinky flower blooms at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for the first time in years

ATLANTA — A rare, smelly flower has bloomed for the first time in four years at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

There are four blooms of the African corpse flower blooming at the Fuqua Conservatory.

They say there are only a handful of other botanical gardens across the country that also have the flower.

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It’s named after a corpse because it imitates the stench of rotting flesh to attract pollinating flies.

In 2020, the African corpse flower bloomed for the first time in the gardens as a result of an informal challenge to be the first to produce the flower.

It’s believed by garden officials to have been the first time since 1922 that one of the flowers bloomed in North America.

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Then, there was just one bloom. Garden officials say this time there are four and they’re much larger than before.

Native to Central Africa, the plant’s species, Pararistolochia goldieana, is found in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, where it’s threatened by habitat loss.

In Africa, the perennial’s rare woody vine with glossy heart-shaped leaves climbs high into the trees of tropical rainforests and produces that continent’s largest flower – shaped like a saxophone with a mottled purple to reddish throat. Yet, the vine is relatively dainty for such a big flower.

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