I was keen to see the huge Corpse Flower when it opened at the Botanic Gardens in Sydney. The Corpse Flower, Amorphophallus titanum, supposedly has the biggest and smelliest flower in the world, and they only flower, roughly, once per decade. Staff at the Gardens had named this particular flower “Putricia”. The flowers are native to Indonesia and are endangered in the wild.

The interest in the flower was amazing. A lot of people had been watching it during the previous week or so, on a live webcam feed. The previous afternoon, it had slowly opened. But it would only stay open for roughly 24 to 48 hours, so the next day, there was a long queue a the Botanic Gardens entrance an hour before they opened.
I met up with Sue outside the Gardens around 7am, and we joined the queue. Continue reading →