The corpse flower’s notorious smell comes from a blend of chemicals, not a single “corpse flower” compound. A 2024 study of two blooms from one Dartmouth College greenhouse plant highlighted putrescine, which evokes rotting meat, and two sulfur compounds associated with a strong, far-carrying odor. The researchers also observed the flower’s central spadix warming by as much as 11°C and proposed that the heat helps disperse the scent.
What chemicals make the corpse flower smell?
The corpse flower, Amorphophallus titanum (also called titan arum), produces an odor associated with carrion. In the 2024 report on the study, the prominent compounds included putrescine, dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl trisulfide. Chemistry World’s account describes putrescine as contributing a rotting-meat character, while the two sulfur compounds contribute to the flower’s powerful smell.
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The report says the plant produces the sulfur compounds from methionine, a sulfur-containing amino acid. It does not provide a table of measured concentrations, so the findings identify notable components without establishing how much of each is present or which one dominates the odor.
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The odor is linked to pollination. Carrion-seeking insects, especially carrion beetles, are among the insects the flower attracts; a smell suggestive of dead animals can draw them to the bloom, where they can help transfer pollen. The smell is therefore part of the plant’s reproductive strategy, rather than simply an incidental by-product.
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- The Corpse Flower, also known as Amorphophallus titanum or titan arum, is the world’s largest unbranched inflorescence (cluster of flowers on a main stem). This cluster of flowers is wrapped in a tall green spathe, surrounded by a deep burgundy bloom resembling the color and texture of flesh. This, along with the pungent odor make it memorable.
- Carnivorous Plant. These flowers usually take 7-10 years to bloom for the first time, and then can re-bloom every 3-5 years afterward, usually in the summer.
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The flower’s odor also changes across bloom stages, which typically span a few days. Study lead Eric Schaller suggested that these shifts might resemble different degrees of decay and appeal to different insects. That is a proposed explanation, not a demonstrated mechanism.
Why does the corpse flower heat up?
The researchers observed the central structure, called the spadix, warming before and during the early bloom. In the reported observations, it warmed by as much as 11°C. They proposed that this thermogenesis helps carry the sulfur compounds farther through the air, increasing the reach of the scent. Schaller told Chemistry World, “You can detect the smell quite a long way away.”
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The heat-and-dispersal explanation is an interpretation of the observations: it does not show that heat alone determines whether insects are attracted. Nor should the reported maximum be treated as a fixed temperature rise for every corpse flower or every bloom.
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The underlying paper, by A. Zulfiqar and colleagues, appeared in PNAS Nexus in 2024 as volume 3, article pgae492. The reported work examined two bloom events—in 2016 and 2022—from Morphy, a 21-year-old corpse flower grown in a Dartmouth College greenhouse. It was not a survey of many plants or populations.
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The accessible account does not give detailed analytical procedures or statistical uncertainty. Its findings support the reported compounds and warming in those observations, but do not establish how common the same chemical profile or temperature change is across corpse flowers.
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- Moonflower grows best in moist, well-draining conditions, with six hours of full sunlight, slightly acidic to neutral soil, and temperatures above 60°F.
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