CSULB's corpse flower is on the verge of blooming: Here's how to check it out

Cal State Long Beach's (in)famous corpse flower, affectionately known as Phil, may bloom for the third time as early as this weekend.

Such corpse flower blooms are special occasions. The plants, Amorphophallus titanum to scientists, go several years between blooms, with Phil's most recent bloom happening in 2021. When corpse flowers bloom, they send forth the smell of decaying flesh and their odoriferousness has the benefit of attracting carrion beetles that act as pollinators.

Its distinctive reproductive cycle also has a way of drawing curious humans who want to see - and smell - what all the fuss is about. Those who do so often discover that corpse flowers like Phil live up to their stinky reputations.

"It seems humorous," said Brian Thorson, CSULB's botanical curator and technician. "People really laugh a lot because they don't expect it to be exactly like it's described."

"They expect it to smell bad," he added. "They don't really expect it to be as horribly aromatic as it is."

Thorson plans to exhibit Phil after its bloom is confirmed. Anyone who wants to keep up with Phil's progress from a distance or visit CSULB to see - and smell - its bloom can keep track of its progress via the College of Natural Science and Mathematics' Instagram posts.

Corpse flowers exhibit telltale signs of imminent bloom and a chronicle of Phil's 2019 bloom outlined the process. The record of Phil's debut bloom starts with an observation that its spathe, a petal-like structure, was darkening to take on a burgundy hue. Corpse flowers like Phil grow warmer in the lead-up to their bloom, which Thorson said is part of the plants' method of attracting pollinators.

Corpse flowers also appear to inflate around their base before blooming, Thorson said. The plants' spathe unfolds away from its spadix, and their shape helps to spread the stench across a greater distance.

The first 24 hours are the smelliest, he said, and by the second day, the stench is more reminiscent of "a garbage can full of crab shells in the summer heat."

In the wild, corpse flowers like Phil are endemic to Sumatra, one of Indonesia's many islands. Phil is one of two corpse flowers at The Beach. The other, Laura, is among the roughly 2,000 plants of numerous species growing in CSULB's five greenhouses and outdoor growing facility.

Thorson spent much of his childhood in Guam, harvesting crops grown on his family's property and collecting nuts from the jungle. He started at CSULB in 2008 when the campus' plant collection had "hardly anything alive." He acquired Phil and Laura about a year after being hired, and today, The Beach has dedicated greenhouses for plants that thrive in tropical, temperate and arid zones.

He also collects and prepares specimens for science lessons. Helping people to comprehend that plants are not mere decorations is a big part of Thorson's vocation.

"Plants respond to the environment just like we do," he said. "They just respond in different ways."