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Amazon is growing a massive, foul-smelling 'corpse flower' at its indoor rainforest - and it just bloomed for the first time ever
Amazon is growing a massive, foul-smelling 'corpse flower' at its indoor rainforest - and it just bloomed for the first time ever
Paige LeskinOct 24, 2018, 02:46 IST
Amazon
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Amazon welcomed visitors into its headquarters over the weekend to see a rare corpse flower named Morticia in bloom.
The 6-foot-tall plant, which is technically called a "titan arum," sits in the rainforest inside of the Spheres on Amazon's Seattle campus. The Spheres opened earlier this year, and they're intended to serve as a relaxing place for employees. But Amazon let visitors into the dome-shaped buildings over the weekend to witness an event that only happens once every seven years (at least) for the corpse flower.
The corpse flower's name comes from the plant's dank smell, reminiscent of rotting flesh. But that didn't stop thousands of visitors who lined up to get a closer look of the plant's bloom, which lasts only two days.
Watch the plant over time reach its full bloom inside Amazon's rainforest:
The plant is housed inside the Amazon Spheres, a series of glass domes that are part of the the company's Seattle headquarters.
Business Insider's Avery Hartmans visited the Spheres in downtown Seattle last month. The glass dome-shaped Spheres were designed as a relaxing communal place for Amazon employees to work and collaborate. The Spheres officially opened earlier this year right next to Amazon's existing headquarters, whose construction cost a cool $4 billion.
Besides the indoor rainforest where the corpse flower is located, the area also features lawn games and a dog park.
Morticia the plant stood only 19 inches tall when she first came to the Spheres in September, Amazon says. At full bloom, she had grown to 6 feet tall.
The corpse flower is one of the over 400 species of plants from around the world that Amazon collected to include in the Spheres. Amazon has its own team of horticulturalists that work to maintain the conservation of the plants.
Until the plant bloomed this weekend, it wasn't giving off the rotting flesh smell it's known for — that's only emitted when the corpse flower blooms completely.
Amazon set up a live stream on Twitch for people to watch the flower bloom, which is about as exciting as watching grass grow. But by Friday night, the corpse flower reached its full bloom.
When the flower is in full bloom is also when it gives off the worst of its rotting smell, which is actually used to attract insects for pollination. Although Amazon's plant was only 6 feet tall, corpse flowers can reach heights over 9 feet tall.
The corpse flower only blooms for 48 days, so the plant had already started to close up Sunday night. See you all in seven years for Morticia's next bloom!
