'Corpse' lurks at Bellevue Park Greenhouse (18 photos)

For those who love plants and flowers (an especially welcome sight for those who aren’t fond of snow), Sault Ste. Marie’s Bellevue Park Greenhouse has a great deal of natural beauty to admire.

The city-operated greenhouse offers both beauty and oddity at the same time, including a ‘Corpse Flower.’

The Corpse Flower (‘Amorphophallus Titanum’ in Latin), native to Indonesia, is described as one of the largest flowers in the world and is said to smell like rotting meat when it blooms.

The corpse flower currently on display at the greenhouse was planted in Sept. 2014.

“It smells like a rotting corpse, pretty much (when it flowers), but the novelty is it’s one of the biggest flowers in the world. When it flowers it can grow up to eight feet tall,” said Jennifer Migwans, Bellevue Park Greenhouse gardener.

“The question is ‘when,’” Migwans said.

“It could be 20 years. We don’t know. There isn’t really any specific time it’s known to flower,” Migwans told SooToday.

“The flower will last a couple of days and it’ll smell really bad, and the flowers can be up to six feet tall and burgundy in colour. It’ll look like the corpse of an animal and that tricks the insects into pollinating it. They land on it, lay their eggs and take the pollen with them.”

“Curious people will come and see it,” Migwans said.

Meanwhile, as horticulturalists wait for the plant to reek, there is a host of pleasant-looking and pleasant-smelling flowers and plants for the public to enjoy at the Bellevue Park Greenhouse, which is open year round, seven days a week, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Admission is free.

All staff require is that visitors sign the guest book.

While most people tend to slowly wander through the greenhouse, visitors are welcome to come and sit among the wide variety of plants and soak in the beauty, bring their coffee and a book, and may even bring their dogs (which must be on a leash)

Staff will provide visitors with clippings from the plants if asked, Migwans said.