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Rare Flower Blooms at Western Illinois University
CHICAGO (AP) -- Western Illinois University's Botany Greenhouse smells like rotting flesh -- thanks to an extremely rare flower that bloomed over the weekend.

The flower is called the Titan Arum, but it's nicknamed the "Corpse Flower" due to its horrendous odor.

The flower that's blooming came from one of the four Titan Arum seeds WIU got from the University of Wisconsin in 2002.

Greenhouse gardener Jeff Hillyer says the flower has been growing steadily since last fall and will eventually top 12 feet. The flowers can grow to more than 20 feet tall in the wild.

The flower thrives in a hot and humid climate and was threatened a couple of weeks ago when the WIU campus was without heat. Hillyer says he had to come in overnight and use portable heaters to keep the plant warm.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
05 03 10 by Newsroom
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