Australia Logs Dozens of Corpse Flower Blooms in 2025
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- Australia recorded more than a dozen titan arum (corpse flower) blooms in 2025 — including Putricia in Sydney, Morpheus in Canberra, Big Betty in Cooktown, and Spud and co in Cairns — placing it among the top three countries globally for such events, according to Botanic Gardens of South Australia curator Matt Coulter.
- Adelaide's Botanic Gardens of South Australia holds more than 250 corpse flower plants across multiple generations, the largest collection in Australia and possibly the world, built from Sumatran seeds acquired in 2006 and propagated via leaf cuttings and pollination.
- Putricia at Sydney's Botanic Gardens drew nearly 27,000 visitors during its 2025 bloom, a turnout horticulture director John Siemon described as 'akin to having the Olympics back in town' — and Putricia has four genetic clones, three of which have already flowered, with the fourth potentially blooming within 12 months.
- Geelong's botanic gardens holds four titan arums; 'Betsy' bloomed in November 2024 with a fragrance described as 'decaying possum with overtones of parmesan cheese,' and a second same-aged corm has a nickname the garden has yet to reveal.
- Australia's native corpse flower varieties — the elephant yam and cheeky yam of northern Australia — also produce the distinctive rotting aroma to attract beetle and fly pollinators, though their blooms are smaller and differently shaped than the Sumatran titan arum.
- Titan arums typically take 10-12 years to produce their first flower and need to store enough energy in tubers weighing up to 75kg; mature conservation collections are now reaching the age where more frequent blooms can be expected, Siemon said.
Why it matters: Adelaide's 250+ plant collection makes it the world's most significant ex-situ conservation site for an endangered Sumatran species, and with conservation collections now reaching maturity, the country is converting what was once a once-in-a-decade botanical event into a regular public spectacle — Putricia alone drew 27,000 visitors in a single bloom, showing massive public appetite for plant conservation programming.
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