World's largest titan arum in bloom at Meise Botanic Garden

A new titan arum began flowering on Monday evening at Meise Botanic Garden, just outside Brussels. The plant has an impressive height of 3.21m, making it the largest of its kind in the world.

An official measurement of the plant will take place this morning. If the height is confirmed, Meise will have a new record in the Guinness Book of World Records. The current record, 3.10m, has been held by a plant in Gilford, in the US, since 2010.

The first titan arum at Meise Botanic Garden flowered in 2008. Since then, about 20 plants have bloomed. The current specimen originally came from the Ghent Botanic Garden and arrived in Meise in 2014. Last week, another specimen, 2.17m high, also flowered at the botanical garden.

The titan arum, also known as the corpse or penis plant, is only found in the wild in Sumatra, Indonesia, where it grows in tropical forests. The plant is considered the largest flower in the world, and is also one of the smelliest plants on Earth – it emits a foul smell of rotten flesh when in bloom. This putrid smell is meant to attract insects.

The flowering of the titan arum lasts only 48 to 72 hours. To give as many people as possible a chance to see the flower, the site will remain open until 21.00 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

^{#FlandersNewsService | A titan arum in bloom at Meise Botanic Garden in May 2020 © BELGA PHOTO LAURIE DIEFFEMBACQ}