Rare corpse flower blooms at the University of North Georgia. Biology professor Ashlee McCaskill notes, “It’s right up there with the giant redwoods in northern California in terms of botanical record-holders.” The flower has the biggest inflorescence in the plant world. Commonly called the corpse flower, the plant has three unusual characteristics. It grows between 6 and 8 feet tall, takes eight to 10 years to bloom for the first time and smells like rotting meat once it blooms. The day of the bloom, the plant had reached a height of nearly 6 feet tall. McCaskill says there are at least four other specimens in the greenhouse and she looks forward to their first blooms.
