Why Do the World's Largest Flowers Stink?

When you think of a monster, you might picture thirsty vampires or brain-eating zombies. But have you ever heard of monster plants? The largest single flower in the world is called the monster flower, and it looks and smells like rotting flesh. Found in the wet tropical forests of islands of Sumatra and Borneo, the average monster flower is about three feet in diameter and can weigh up to 24 pounds. That’s the size of a large SUV tire. There’s plenty about the monster flower that drives up its spookiness factor. For one, it’s a parasite. The plant exists solely as a network of cellular threads, meaning there are no roots or leaves. It gets all its nutrients and water from its host, Tetrastigma vines. And the monster flower’s appearance is certainly…monstrous. With mottled reddish-brown coloring and five separate petals surrounding the sex organs in the central cup, it resembles the horrifying demogorgons from Netflix’s Stranger Things. And finally, the stink. To reproduce, the monster flower relies on carrion-eating flies and beetles to pollinate. While blooming, it attracts these dead-meat-eating insects by producing a foul odor to mimic a decomposing organism. After blooming for three–four days, the plant shrivels and decays. The monster flower is difficult to cultivate and very vulnerable to extinction, which means you probably won’t encounter it in-person anytime soon. But if you really want to see a huge, rotten-smelling plant with a scary name up close, look no further than the titan arum. The titan arum, or corpse flower, is also native to Sumatra but is showcased in botanical gardens worldwide. It’s the largest inflorescence, or clustering of flowers on a single stem, in the world. The titan arum is a rare sight to see, only blooming for 24–48 hours around every three to seven years. During bloom, the outer petal-like collar will unfurl. The flower generates heat up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and produces a rotten flesh odor. The inner spike of the titan arum is called a spadix and can reach more than nine feet tall. At the base of the spadix are hundreds of pink-orange female flowers, and right atop them a ring of hundreds of cream-colored male flowers. Once the spathe opens, carrion insects fly in and land on these small flowers, spreading pollen from other titan arums. Fertilization allows the female flowers to develop into bright red fruits. After the bloom period, the spathe and upper spadix collapse, allowing the fruits to be dispersed by animals. Eventually, the rest of the structure falls away, and the plant will go dormant underground. So, the world’s largest flowers are also ones that reek of death. Even crazier, the monster flower and the titan arum aren’t biologically related—making the whole thing just one stinky coincidence.