Here’s everything you always wanted to know about the corpse flower but were too disgusted to ask

boing
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Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/11/01/heres-everything-you-always.html

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I saw the one that the Berkeley Botanical Gardens has. It truly stinks - like someone left out a pile of chicken for too long. Like - you think ‘o it probably smells LIKE rotting flesh’ in the way that rose perfume MAYBE smells like a rose. But no. It IS rotting flesh. Someone left a pile of flesh rotting somewhere and you look for the smell and o, no wait, it’s this flower. The flower is huge and awesome and like something you imagine you’d see in some prehistoric land. For all of those reasons, I highly recommend checking one out if someone is like ‘hey the corpse flower is blooming and we’re gonna go see it!’;

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“Honey, did you go to the Botanical Gardens again?”

“Um, er, no…why do you ask?”

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are we certain the rotting flesh smell is produced by the flower itself?

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The thing I want to know is why these stories keep making the news year after year after year after year. It feels like I see at least one “corpse flower blooming” story bubble up to “national” level press every single year . . . how can people STILL be so shocked and amazed by these things?

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Maybe because it’s a reoccurring special phenomenon? People like these, there are many more, year after year, after year.

And maybe because there are always fresh, new people who did not know about this.
Or, if it’s a thing which has your interest, it’s never boring to read about it.

Edit: Oh, and welcome to Boingboing, please look around and read some more.

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While I appreciate your fairly obvious, common-sense explanations for the phenomenon, I do feel compelled to point out that however well-intentioned, your “welcome” is extremely patronizing. Just because someone finally took the time to register to comment doesn’t mean that they’re new around here. I’ve been reading this site almost since it was founded, and was active on several previous commenting platforms. “Please look around and read some more” may have been intended as an invitation, but it comes across as instructions, i.e. “Educate yourself!”

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It’s does not happen often that “long time readers, no commenters”, take the effort to finally create a account, and than use there first post to critique a post wich is easy to ignore if the subject does not bother them.
My bad, probably you did have a honest question. And good to hear you liked my ‘fairly obvious, common-sense explanations for the phenomenon’.

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The initiator of the stories is likely the botanical garden… How often do they have something “exciting” happen that might attract new members or at least give a little donation bump due to increased visits? News orgs are always looking for interest stories, so they are readily picked up for distribution.

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I probably think so. They often need such a bump.
They do not need to lure me in, I love most of these places, quiet and mostly visited by quietly people. And plants, lots of plants, with names written, yes! But now I feel guilty, should donate more, thanks.

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