As the smell of rotten flesh filled the air, visitors lined up outside the E.W. Heier Teaching Greenhouse last Tuesday to inspect the rare source of the stench.
They were waiting for a chance to view Metis, the name of Binghamton University’s very own corpse flower. The flower rarely blooms, but when it does, it produces an odor that is similar to that of rotting flesh.
According to Laurie Kasperek, the greenhouse manager who has been a part of the greenhouse staff for 15 years, the blooming of Metis was an unexpected surprise. Since April of this year, Metis, named for the goddess of learning and teaching in Greek mythology, had been dormant.
‘We never thought the flower would bloom this young,’ Kasperek said. ‘A Titan Arum flower will not bloom much before eight years old. The fact that this one has at the age of five is unexpected.’
The plant began its growth spurt over the Labor Day weekend. It grew 15 inches in three days.
By full maturity these plants can grow up to 15 feet tall. At the age of five, Metis stands at about 5.5 feet.
Despite its size, the plant bloomed last Tuesday ‘ on schedule from when it first showed signs of blooming. The process began at 4 p.m. and continued until it was fully open around 10:30 p.m. At full bloom, the flower measured about 2.5 feet across.
‘This species of plant has adapted to produce scent and heat to attract pollinators,’ said Nick Plavac, a bioengineering professor at BU. Plavac and his team of bioengineering students were able to record the early stages of the plants heating temperatures using a thermocouple probe.
‘The plant uses so much energy when blooming that its temperature can get up to around 98.6, the temperature of the human body,’ Plavac said.
According to Plavac’s research, the probe detected a one-degree rise above ambient air temperatures an hour before the plant bloomed, and a peak at 36 degrees Celsius. This type of data presents possible new findings in heat production relative to the spathe’s. Research conducted in Germany states that daylight hours seems to influence the spathe’s opening and closing.
In order to know how this species reacts to daylight here in eastern North America, researchers must perform additional measurements ‘ a particular challenge given how infrequently these plants bloom.
Universities participate in the trading of the plants, pollen and seeds to expand the diversity of their greenhouses. Metis was first introduced to Binghamton University in 2007 as a donation from BU alumnus Werner Stiegler, who obtained three tuber-like seeds from the plant’s native land in Bali, Indonesia. Metis was one of those seeds.
In that first year, the Metis tuber grew from four pounds to 40 pounds, and has been housed in the high humidity conditions of the greenhouse’s tropical room ever since.
In the U.S. there are limited places where this plant can thrive. It is most at home in more tropical environments, conditions that are mimicked in the BU Greenhouse. Areas such as Hawaii and Florida in the U.S. are ideal; however there are plants similar to Metis’ species in the northern regions of the United States, as well. According to Plavac, one of the native species is called the Skunk cabbage, a perennial. This plant, like Metis, gives off energy and heat, and because it grows in the winter it often gives off enough heat to melt the snow around it, which contributes to the odor they put off to attract flies as pollinators.
After the plant collapses entirely, the greenhouse staff’s first task will be to dry out the tuber, which will take two to three weeks. They will then replant it so it can carry on its cycle of life, and so Binghamton can be ready when Metis is ready to put on another show. However, the plant is unpredictable and it is hard to accurately determine its next step. It could take three years, five years or 70 years until it enters the right conditions to bloom again.