You won't believe where I just was! I've just returned from the Chicago Botanic Garden, where I got to see Alice the Titan Arum in bloom!
After a chilly hour and 40 minute wait in a line that wound through the circle garden, bonsai courtyards, and Regenstein Center, we finally got to the semitropical greenhouse where Alice is displayed. Here’s the size of the crowd ahead of me at midnight:
The verdict? Not actually as stinky as I'd thought it would be. The flower itself is quite majestic - 55 inches tall, with a purple unfolded spathe, like an upturned collar. There was a little piece of Alice available for sniffing, which was smooth, a little squishy, and smelled faintly of "something in the fridge has gone bad" or maybe "we should really take the kitchen trash out."
Since it was dark, my camera couldn't really do Alice justice, but you can see her in all her faintly stinky glory here on the garden's webcam and featured in other visitor's selfies in the tag #CBGAlice over on Twitter. You can learn more about titan arums at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s site, here.
For those interested, the compounds that make up the Titan Arum's stench according to the garden’s posters are:
That’s quite the smelly bouquet!
