Stinky Phil, Virginia Tech’s resident corpse plant, bloomed for the first time in years!

BLACKSBURG, Va. The corpse flower could bloom again soon, according to Jeff Burr, greenhouse manager in the School of Plant and Environment Sciences at Virginia Tech. Theyve nicknamed the flower Stinky Phil and it has a very putrid odor. Under typical weather conditions, Stinky Phil would already have bloomed, but extended cold and rain in May elongated the cycle. Stinky Phil has been at Virginia Tech since the late 1990s, and this will be his fifth bloom since arriving in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech says the 2013 bloom was particularly putrid, caused by the burning of the stored carbohydrates.