A rare "corpse flower," affectionately known by botanists as Amorphophallus titanum, unexpectedly bloomed at the Chicago Botanic Garden on Monday night, releasing a notoriously unpleasant odor in the process. The blossoming plant, named Alice, had a much different fate than one of its siblings at the North Shore garden. Last month, it was widely anticipated that Spike, another corpse flower, was set to bloom. It never did, and gardeners had to make small cuts to the plant's base in order to open it up.
The botanic garden didn't stir up as much hullabaloo for Alice. "Given that titan arums are notably unpredictable flowering plants (and we should know!), we wanted to be sure that she would bloom before we announced her debut," read a statement on its website.
Alice underwent a tremendous amount of growth over the past few weeks. According to the Chicago Botanic Garden, the plant was 19.75 inches tall and 16 inches of girth on September 11. Now, it's 55 inches tall with 35 inches of girth.
You can check out the stinky plant at the Glencoe establishment until 2am tonight, and from 8am to 7pm tomorrow. If you don't feel like leaving the city to see a plant bloom, then you can watch a live stream here.
