Why Insects Are Drawn to Corpse Flower’s Stench
A stinky corpse flower named Trudy draws thousands of visitors—and probably a few flies—to the University of California Botanical Garden.
People had been waiting for days with bated breath—and pinched noses—for Trudy the corpse flower to bloom at the University of California Botanical Gardens in Berkeley. The plant finally obliged on Saturday night, opening up for the first time in six years and releasing “infrequent blasts” of the odor that gives the flower its name: that of rotting flesh.
Trudy has already begun to wilt and shed pollen, but not before attracting some 2,250 visitors to its 56-inch phallic bloom. Many are chronicling their encounters with the fetid flower on social media, where Trudy is trending.
The corpse flower is one of the world's biggest, stinkiest plants, says Bill McLaughlin, curator of plants at the U.S. Botanic Garden. And
