Foul Smelling Plants

Corpse Flower

• The corpse flower (Rafflesia arnoldii) is unusual plant in many ways. Native to the jungles of Sumatra and Borneo, this parasitic plant thrives on the Tetrastigma plant's woody vines. The corpse flower possesses neither leaves nor roots. It remains hidden within the body of its host vine for most of its life. When ready to bloom, a flower emerges from its host, opening to a dramatic diameter of more than 1 yard. The corpse flower is the world's largest known flower. The bloom is burgundy red and spotted. As its name implies, it emits the scent of rotting flesh, which attracts carrion flies.

Skunk Cabbage

• The skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is a foul-smelling plant. This member of the Arum family grows wild throughout the swampy woodlands of the Eastern and Central United States and southeastern Canada. The skunk cabbage is a perennial, which emerges each year in early spring from damp soil producing a strange flower consisting of a spiky yellow center enveloped in a hoodlike dark red enclosure. This bizarre flower gives way to clumps of upward-pointing, arrow-shaped leaves 1 to 3 feet high. This plant smells strongly of decaying meat. Several Native American tribes used skunk cabbage for food and medicine. The Iroquois ate its young leaves and roots, while the Meskwaki used its rootlets for easing tooth pain. The Winnebago and Dakota peoples used the plant as an asthma remedy.

Carrion Flower

• Carrion flowers, also known as African starfish flowers, are members of the Stapelia genus. These low-growing succulents, indigenous to southern Africa, produce showy blooms of five thick petals in colors ranging from red to cream to purple. Although attractive, these flowers mimic the scent of death, becoming particularly nauseating in the summer heat. Two nonconforming species of this genus however, S. erectiflora and S. flavopurpurea, produce pleasant smelling flowers instead.

Voodoo Lily

• The voodoo lily (Amorphophallus konjac), also known as devil's tongue or konjac, is a member of the Arum family. Hailing from the humid regions of East Asia, this strange plant bears large flowers consisting of an upright, reddish-black obelisk emerging from a burgundy lilylike bloom. The scent of this hideous flower has been likened to that of dead mice left to sit in a plastic bag for several days. Known as konjac in Japan, the tubers of this plant are employed to concoct a gelatin substitute often used to thicken stews.