Giant Titan Arum flower to bloom in Zurich this week

Attention, nature lovers and flora fans across Zurich! This week, one of the world’s largest flowers, the Titan Arum, will bloom in the city’s botanical garden! 

Titan Arum to bloom at Zurich Botanical Garden

According to a social media post from the Botanical Garden at the University of Zurich, the Titan Arum is now starting to bloom in its visitor greenhouse. The plant, one of the largest flowers in the world, began to spread its giant petals late on June 23, having grown several centimetres in the past week.

It will be the third time the Titan Arum in Zurich has bloomed, having flowered in 2019 and 2023. Its resurgence is made all the more remarkable by the fact that the life of this magnificent plant was almost cut dramatically short in 2013, when a group of Swiss schoolchildren nearly destroyed it.

Where did the flower get its silly Latin name?

Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari must have been having fun in 1879 when he first gave the flower its Latin name, Amorphophallus titanum. Translated into English, it’s official name, used by accomplished botanists worldwide, is “misshapen titan penis.” 

In fact, one story is that great wildlife and nature presenter David Attenborough gave it its more tepid name, Titan Arum, as he thought the name would be too “scientific” to be used in his documentary - sure, David, that’s the reason.

Titan Arum in Zurich stands at 1,5 metres tall!

Now endangered in its homeland of Sumatra, Indonesia, several botanical gardens around the world keep Titan Arums. The largest of its kind is held in the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, weighing in at a whopping 153,9 kilograms. By contrast, at full bloom, Zurich’s Titan will be lighter and “only” 1,5 metres tall.

However, before you head off to the Zurich Botanical Garden, be aware that along with being one of the largest flowers in the world, it is also one of the smelliest. When it blooms, the flower gives off a hideous odour that is said to be similar to rotting meat.

If you still plan to see the flower in all its glory, perhaps with a clothes peg in hand, be quick about it, as Titan Arum blooms only last for up to 36 hours!