Frederick The Corpse Flower Is About To Bloom In Minnesota

ST. PAUL, MN — Prepare your nose: Frederick, a corpse flower at the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory, is just days away from unleashing the plant’s famously stinky bloom on the Twin Cities.

As of Thursday, Frederick was 73 inches tall and was anticipated to bloom between Friday and Sunday in the Palm Dome at the conservatory.

Frederick is a sibling of Horace, the corpse flower that bloomed last year at the conservatory. Both were started from seed in 2017 at the Greater Des Moines Botanic Garden and donated to the conservatory in St. Paul.

When repotted in the spring, Frederick’s tuber weighed in at almost 58 pounds — 20 pounds heavier than Horace’s last year, according to the conservatory. Frederick measured 71 inches on Wednesday, while Horace bloomed at 53 inches.

The corpse flower, the putrid odor of which resembles the smell of rotting flesh, according to the United States Botanical Garden, is endangered in the wild and found only in the rainforests of Sumatra.

To watch Frederick’s progress, check out the conservatory’s corpse cam on YouTube, or you can see it below: