The giant flower at UC Davis (see our June 6 news release) has begun to open. The 5-foot-tall flower is blooming sooner than expected, so predicting its activity is difficult. The bloom had been expected to last only 24 to 36 hours and to emit its strong scent for about eight hours. Those times may prove accurate or the bloom may progress more rapidly than that.

Amorphophallus titanum, also known as titan arum or the corpse flower because of its smell, takes up to 15 years to bloom and rarely does so in cultivation.

The UC Davis plant, nicknamed "Ted the Titan," is on public display on the campus daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. until the bloom collapses. Directions to the conservatory are online at http://greenhouse.ucdavis.edu/office_lg.htm. For updated information on the bloom's status, news media should call Sylvia Wright, below.

More information about the plant, including a live Web cam and a 1-minute video, can be found at the campus's corpse plant Web site.