Notorious 'corpse flower' comes to Belle Isle

Visitors who were unlucky enough to be near "the corpse flower" when it bloomed on Belle Isle, got quite a noseful.

After a rancid period of olfactory malfeasance reminiscent of a decaying rodent carcass, the infamous notorious corpse flower of the Voodoo Lily now only gives off the faintest eau de death.

And this it does to attract flies for pollination.

This particular flower, on loan to the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory, is rare in that it has bloomed two straight years and on this occasion attracted only one lonely fly to do its reproductive bidding.

As Jason Carr explains, the worst of it is over, but if you get close enough ...