Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Amorphophallus gigas, nicknamed “Smelliot,” opened on January 24, 2025, and its bloom lasted through January 26. The event is over; the plant is not still on display as a bloom. This was the first time the plant flowered at BBG after arriving as a seedling from Malaysia in 2018.
When did the Brooklyn Botanic Garden bloom happen?
BBG reported that the plant began emerging around New Year’s Eve 2024. It was photographed growing on January 18, beginning to unfurl on January 23, and opened the following day. Staff moved it from the propagation greenhouse to the Aquatic House in the Steinhardt Conservatory as its central spike grew. BBG’s update records the bloom lasting through Sunday, January 26, 2025. Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s report was first published on January 22 and later updated with the opening and closing dates.
Can you still see Smelliot?
No. The flowering display was a brief, past event, not a current attraction. The specific bloom window ended on January 26, 2025. Visitors interested in the garden generally can check BBG’s visitor information, but that page does not mean this bloom is still on view.
Was it really a corpse flower?
It was a corpse-flower relative, but the Brooklyn plant was Amorphophallus gigas, not Amorphophallus titanum, the species most commonly associated with the name “corpse flower.” Both are in the genus Amorphophallus, but their species names and blooms should not be confused. BBG describes A. gigas as native to Sumatra and rare in cultivation.
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What makes the bloom unusual?
It is an inflorescence, not one giant flower
The striking structure is an inflorescence: a flower-bearing arrangement. Its central spike is the spadix. Hundreds of actual male and female flowers cluster at the spadix’s base beneath the petal-like spathe. The structure can look like a single oversized flower, but that appearance hides its many individual flowers. The Associated Press report describes the male and female flowers and the bloom’s short-lived display.
The scent serves a biological purpose
BBG and the AP describe the smell as carrion-like. That odor attracts fly pollinators; it is not simply an incidental feature for visitors to react to. AP quoted visitor Elijah Blades describing it as “feet, cheese and rotten meat,” an individual reaction rather than a scientific characterization.
The flowering window is brief
BBG says an A. gigas bloom lasts only a few days before collapsing. That short lifespan explains the rush to see Smelliot while it was open, but does not make the event recurring or predictable on an annual schedule.
How rare is Amorphophallus gigas in cultivation?
BBG called the species rare in cultivation and reported that Botanic Gardens Conservation International listed nine other botanic gardens as having an A. gigas. BBG did not state the year of that list, so the count should not be treated as a dated or current census. The garden’s report also identifies this as the first bloom at BBG for its plant, which arrived from Malaysia as a seedling in 2018.
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Comparisons with A. titanum need qualification: BBG gardener Chris Sprindis said A. gigas is not as large as an A. titanum bloom, while its unusually tall inflorescence is a rarer occurrence. The cited reports do not provide standardized head-to-head measurements for size, height, or cultivation rarity.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Will Smelliot bloom again soon?
There is no established timetable for its next bloom. In the January 24, 2025 AP report, Sprindis said it would be “several years” before another bloom, not the following year. That contemporaneous expectation is not a guarantee of an exact future date.
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