SF State's Corpse Flower Finally Blooms

Fireworks weren't the only things busting open on the 4th of July. SF State University's resident corpse flower burst into bloom for the first time in 14 years with a pungent, patriotic display. Visitors were invited to write down what nauseating odor they felt the flower's emissions resembled; suggestions included: "a dead rat I found in the trash," "trash juice," "rotting cabbage," and "my pants." Photos by Joe Eskenazi.

San Franciscan Dana Davis was one of several hundred folks to file -- and you really do file -- into the cramped greenhouse to take a whiff of the corpse flower. Two of the compounds it emits -- putricine and cadaverine -- are the same chemicals produced by rotting flesh. They don't call it a corpse flower for nothing.