Goodbye Uncle Fester: Vancouver corpse flower's stench is no more

Jul 18 2018, 7:28 am

Uncle Fester’s stench has come to an end.

The smelly corpse flower at Vancouver’s Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park has closed its petals. And with the recession, the nasty smell has also faded away.

The species’ real name is the Titan Arum, and the plant is native to the equatorial rainforests of Sumatra in Indonesia.

Horticulturalists with the Park Board noticed an 11-inch spongy flower bud on June 21, and by June 29 the same bud was 28 inches tall.

During its brief blooming period, the corpse flower typically attracts pollinators such as carrion beetles and flesh flies.

Multiple statements from the Vancouver Park Board have compared the plant’s scent to the following:

  • Limburger cheese
  • Rotting fish
  • Sweaty socks
  • Feces
  • Rotting flesh
  • Discarded diapers
  • Hot garbage

Curious Vancouverites lined up for hours outside the conservatory to catch a whiff of Fester’s stench.

A post shared by David Griffiths (@dgriffbc) on

The Bloedel Conservatory also extended its hours from 7 am to 11 pm to allow as many visitors as possible during the two-day bloom.

The corpse flower generally needs seven to 10 years to bloom for the first time. Uncle Fester’s next bloom may not occur for another two to three years or even a decade.

If you missed Uncle Fester’s two days of fame, you can watch a time-lapse of the bloom below. But you’ll have to wait until Fester blooms again to catch a whiff that stinky odour.

With files from Vincent Plana

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