One of SF’s Largest, Rarest (and Smelliest) Flowers to Bloom Any Day Now
The last time Scarlet bloomed at the Conservatory of Flowers was nearly three years ago, drawing long lines to the greenhouse ... that smelled of rotting, sun-warmed flesh.
San Francisco’s no stranger to purposefully massive, offensively malodorous flowering bodies. In fact, the seven-by-seven contains one of the largest collections of these cadaver-inspired blossoms anywhere in the country … and world. Outside of New York City and Los Angeles, which have 21 and 46 corpse flowers currently in greenhouses, respectively, San Francisco’s captive cluster is among the largest anywhere in the country. (For context: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates less than 160 mature corpse flowers remain in the wild; a cocktail of rapid deforestation and climate crisis outco...
