Thousands flock to see brief and rare blooming of corpse flowers in California

The brief

Two corpse flowers have bloomed at a southern California research institution, where thousands of visitors had the rare chance to watch two of the world’s largest – and most odorous – plants flowering at the same time. The two titan arums, named Odorysseus and Odora, attracted more than 7,000 people on Monday at the Huntington library, art museum and botanical gardens in San Marino, about 12 miles (19km) from downtown Los Angeles, after they bloomed over the weekend. Each bloom lasts only about 24 to 48 hours, so once the towering plants began unfurling, the staff at the research facility notified the public on Sunday afternoon. The corpse flowers reached…