A rare plant in the H.F. Thut Greenhouse began to bloom Sunday evening and had closes back up by the next morning.

The titan arum, also known as the “corpse flower,” produced a flower of about 36 inches in height and attracted numerous students, faculty and community members during its blooming.

Steve Malehorn, manager for the greenhouse, said the greenhouse had a decent crowd of visitors.

The flower is known for producing an odor identical to rotting meat, which it uses to attract flies for pollination. Malehorn said those in the area can often pick up the scent from up to three blocks away but the odor was much weaker this year.

He said the titan arum was also much smaller than it usually is and part of it had formed a split that it should not have.

“It’s had a rough year,” Malehorn said.

He said the tuber of the flower lost much of its roots from rot, which resulted in a smaller bloom and less potent odor.

“The minimum size to bloom is 35 pounds, this is 33,” Malehorn said.

President William Perry said he remembers having to crane his head much higher to see the plant when it bloomed two years ago.

He and his wife Linda Perry stopped by the greenhouse to see to see the corpse flower bloom.

“It makes you realize the importance of natural science,” William Perry said.

He said the deep purple color of the plant made it very beautiful.

“You almost might think if it wasn’t a plant, it might be a sculpture,” William Perry said.

Junior history major Zach Samples said he thinks it is awesome that Eastern has a “corpse flower.”

“It definitely lives up to its name,” Samples said. “It did not smell very good at all.”

Samples said when he gives campus tours, people from the surrounding community often ask about it.

“It’s almost as if it has a celebrity status,” Samples said. “Eastern really stands out in a lot of ways. This is one of them.”

Though Eastern’s titan arum has closed, Malehorn said he cut a window into the leafy spathe of the plant so visitors could see the tiny flower within it.

He said he also recently planted a small part of the titan arum’s tuber that fell off when he moved it.

Malehorn said even though it is the size of about half a walnut shell, the tiny tuber has started to bud as well.

He said titan arums can often bud to produce leaves to help them gain energy for growth. But since the fragment came off of a tuber that was about to bloom, Malehorn said it might be going through a similar process.

He said he has never heard of anyone splitting a titan arum while it bloomed.

“I’m not sure if anyone has though of that before,” Malehorn said. “I figure Chip would be a pretty good name for it.”

Seth Schroeder can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].