USBG Corpse Flower: July 25

The corpse flower at Washington, DC’s US Botanical Garden (USBG) is rapidly going dormant. The spadix has collapsed, and the spathe continues to wither. The USBG staff cut two holes in the base of the spathe. The female and male flowers can be seen through those holes (see photos below). A staff member told me that they harvested the pollen today. I forgot to ask if they pollinated the female flowers, but I would assume not as they would have bloomed four days ago when the plant was in peak bloom. As always refer to my photos from the past two weeks to see changes (July 11, July 12, July 13, July 14, July 15, July 16, July 17, July 18, July 19, July 20, July 21, July 22, July 23, and July 24). Also, see the “Corpse Flower” page on my website that has photos from everyday that shows the whole plant so the photos can be more easily compared as well as a video that has a slide show of photos. Finally, I continue to give the smell report for old time’s sake. There is no smell.On the left side of the spathe base in the below photo, one of the holes created when the staff cut into the spathe can be seen.

Below is the view through the lower hole cut in near the base of the spathe that shows the female flowers.

Below is the view through another slightly higher hole that was cut near the base of the spathe that shows the male flowers with the female flowers underneath the same flowers.