Morticia Madness – Get excited about the Moody Gardens corpse flower bloom

View the live Corpse webcams here!

Two years ago, a friend from Houston and I made a spontaneous after-work, late-night venture to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, where we stood in a modest 30-45 minute line to observe the wonder that was Lois, the corpse flower. We both had been captivated by the rarity and beauty  of the bloom, and stood in awe of the wonder of that flower. We were among nearly 70,000 people who went to the museum for the sole act of seeing Lois while she bloomed. We thought we’d never have the chance to see such a marvel of nature again.

We were wrong.

In May, one of several corpse flowers at the Rainforest Pyramid at Moody Gardens, began to bloom. I know, you’re thinking so what, a flower is blooming, they do this all the time. But not corpse flowers. Considered the largest blooming flower in the world, corpse flowers do not bloom that frequently. They have no regular blooming cycle.

Since 1998, 84 plants have bloomed in U.S. facilities such as botanical gardens and zoos. Before that, there was a bloom in New York in 1937. Before that, the only other bloom recorded was the first one observed in 1889 in London. It attracted such attention police to control the crowds.

It is amazing to me how this plant, so difficult to reproduce, and so rare and sparse in its blooming process, even exists. It’s one of those marvels of natures I couldn’t think of missing.

So to hear there is another one at Moody Gardens, I had to run and check it out myself. Sure enough, in the middle of the fish pond near the bat cave, there sits a nearly 5-foot tall plant waiting to open up. I got super geeky about the one in Houston, so hearing of one in Galveston is super exciting to me. Love when Galveston rocks like that.

Staff at Moody Gardens say the crowds to see the flower have been steadily growing. I happen to like how Moody Gardens has her on display a little better than Houston did (always partial to Galveston though, so there is that disclaimer). Instead of in a room all to herself with just a black curtain and logo banner as a backdrop, Morticia (the corpse flower’s name) sits in her pot on a platform in the middle of the pond, with birds flying above her and fish, turtles and stingarees swimming beneath her. It is an entirely different experience than seeing Lois, so if you’re thinking you don’t need to see this one, you’re wrong. The plant looks entirely different in a more natural setting. It’s a good location to see her from all angles and you don’t feel crushed in there with her. That last note might be of benefit when she really opens and the scent these plants are known for starts eminating from deep within its core.

The plant is an amorphophallus titanum, but is commonly referred to as a giant corpse flower bloom because of the stench produced during pollination. Native only to Sumatra, Indonesia, the plant emits a strong odor that resembles rotting flesh. This aroma attracts carrion beetles and sweat flies that are critical to the pollination process. They enter the flower and go searching for the rotting flesh they smell. Instead they find themselves trapped inside, picking up pieces of pollen and hopefully dropping some from other corpse flowers. When they finally make their way back out, they carry pollen to the next corpse flower they come to.

To reproduce, two corpse flowers need to be blooming simultaneously. This contributes to their rarity in the world, as well as illegal forest harvesting. Until they go to bloom, the flowers look like any other tree on the rainforest floor. In fact, you can see the leaf stage of the plant alongside the blooming corpse flower at Moody Gardens.

I find this part especially interesting compared to viewing the corpse flower in Houston. In Houston, we saw just the big, stinky flower. We didn’t get to see what the other phase of the plant looks like, the phase in which it is building up the energy stores needed to eventually bloom. During the leaf phase, what looks like a small tree with multiple leaves burst out of the tuber. The plant is actually one leaf at this time and the seemingly smaller leafs are known as leaflets. It will eventually start to wilt and the plant will go dormant.

When it wakes from the dormant stage it will either start a bloom if it has enough energy stored, or it will go to leaf again and continue to build energy.

Morticia is in the middle of her bloom cycle and is expected to reach full bloom (and full stink) within a week or two. Moody Gardens might not have the anonymous Twitter feed feeding the curiosity of thousands upon thousands of people, but  it does have a web cam up to watch the progress of Morticia.  There also is a contest to guess the exact bloom date. (Check out those details here)

There is no additional fee to view Morticia. She is toward the end of the path at the Rainforest Pyramid and admission  to the pyramid gets you a glimpse at the rare flower.

Be sure to keep your eyes peeled though as you make your way through the pyramid, and not just rush to see the flower. There are so many beautiful plants and animals in the pyramid; Morticia just happens to be having her moment in the spotlight. I was rushing past and almost missed one of the white-faced saki monkeys getting comfortable on a branch. Birds of all sorts dart about and butterflies flutter by so gently you could miss them if you blinked.

I appreciate the diversity of plants and animals in the Rainforest Pyramid and am glad a stinky flower lured me in again, and reminded of what a local can take for granted. Treat yourself to the treasure of the Rainforest Pyramid, and the rare natural beauty of a corpse flower in bloom.

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