Currently over at the Houston Museum of Natural Science a very rare and strange occurrence is taking place.

An Amorphophallus Titanum or Corpseflower plant is about to bloom. This spectacular flowering plant is only the 2nd to have bloomed in Texas, and only the 29th to have ever bloomed in the entire United States. This totally freaky and alien looking plant got its name from early explorers visiting Sumatra in Indonesia who thought it was a man-eating plant because of its human rotting corpse like smell. Blarff!

The Museum seems to be going Corpseflower Crazy with its 24 hour webcam, twitter feed, and vimeo updates. The plant, which was expected to bloom this past weekend, is about to pop and the city of Houston is getting very excited. The hours of the HMNS have been extended, the Cockrell Butterfly Center has moved the plant into a special viewing area, and have I mentioned??? they’ve named the plant Lois. The expected bloom date is now tomorrow, Wednesday July 14th but you can following the progress by just checking in on the webcam. Record size crowds have been visiting the museum, over five to seven times the normal size crowds are visiting! Who knew that so many people were curious about the smell of rotting corpse??

Check out this once in a lifetime experience now…once the plant blooms the flower should only last for a mere two days. What triggers the bloom? No one knows! Cool!

Houston Museum of Natural History, 5555 Hermann Park Drive, Houston, Texas 77030 ph. 713.639.4629

See the Corpse Flower at HMNS! [Amorphophallus titanum] from HMNS on Vimeo.

The Latest on Lois! [Amorphophallus titanum] 7.12.10 from HMNS on Vimeo.

Filed under: Houston by Stephen : No Comments »