Museum opens 24 hours for 'corpse flower'

HOUSTON, July 13 (UPI) -- A Houston museum announced it will remain open 24 hours a day until its Amorphophallus titanum, a flower known for its rotting flesh-like smell, blooms.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science announced Monday it will remain open 24 hours a day until the 5-foot-tall bud, often known as a corpse flower and nicknamed Lois by museum staff, blooms and releases its foul stench into the Cockrell Butterfly Center, the Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday.

Zac Stayton, a museum horticulturalist, said experts believe the flower, which had not bloomed as of Tuesday morning, will bloom Tuesday or Wednesday.

"I'm really excited and anxious to see it and smell it," Stayton said. "But it's nature and we can't rush that. It will be here tomorrow."

Stayton said the stench will reach its maximum potency about 2 hours after blooming and will last for 8 to 10 hours.

The museum said it will remain on the 24-hour schedule until the flower blooms and curious fans who want to see, but not smell, the plant can view the blooming on a live Web cam on the museum's site.