More than 20,000 visitors are expected to descend on regional Victoria as a rare corpse flower named Pete prepares to emit its infamous rotting-flesh stench at the Geelong Botanic Gardens.
Endemic to the rainforests of Sumatra and listed as endangered, the titan arum stands as one of the world’s largest and rarest flowering plants, typically blooming every seven to 10 years for a fleeting 24 to 48 hours, according to the City of Greater Geelong.
Affectionately named Pete by staff, the plant is currently on public display in the Conservatory and is predicted to bloom over the weekend. Since emerging from dormancy last month, the specimen has grown about five centimetres a day and now reaches roughly 1.5 metres in height.
This event marks the second time in as many years that a corpse flower has bloomed in the Geelong collection, following a successful 2024 exhibition that drew huge crowds and more than 350,000 livestream views.
“We invite everyone to be part of this remarkable moment for Geelong, especially if you missed our first corpse flower bloom in 2024,” said Greater Geelong Mayor Stretch Kontelj OAM.
Preparing the giant plant for its rare display requires careful management of greenhouse conditions to replicate a tropical Sumatran habitat. Horticulturists utilize a combination of misting, fans, and ventilation to maintain high humidity and temperatures around 27 degrees Celsius, as detailed by the Times News Group.
“The misting keeps the humidity high,” Geelong Botanic Gardens horticulturist Claud Bell told the Times News Group. “With the high temperature, it evaporates and causes the humidity.”
A thermal imaging camera tracks the plant’s temperature, which is expected to climb to about 37 degrees Celsius during the peak of the bloom. This self-generated heat helps disperse the pungent odor.
“People have lots of ideas on what it exactly smells like, but we thought last time that it smelt a bit like dead rat,” Bell told the Times News Group.
Garden staff plan to work alongside Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria to collect and test pollen viability.
“We’re going to be collecting pollen from Pete and hopefully using that to pollinate other plants or check viability,” Bell told the Times News Group. “We didn’t get the opportunity to do this last time, so it’ll be a really good learning for us.”
Both corpse flowers in the collection were propagated by the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium in South Australia and donated to Geelong in 2021. The South Australian team also propagated “Putricia,” which flowered at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney last year.
| Specimen | Location | Donation Year | Recent Bloom Milestone |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Geelong Specimen | Geelong Botanic Gardens | 2021 | Bloomed in 2024 (20,000+ visitors) |
| Pete | Geelong Botanic Gardens | 2021 | Predicted to bloom this weekend |
“The Titan Arum, Amorphophallus titanum takes years to build enough energy to produce its spectacular bloom, making every flowering a truly special event,” said Matt Coulter, Amorphophallus titanum expert and Senior Horticulture Curator at the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium South Australia.
Locals can track the final hours before the event via a live stream provided on the City of Greater Geelong website.
