** FSD sends out apologies to guys in alleys, jolly ministers, etc., for this brief interruption. Apparently, the notorious corpse flower is blooming once again, and folks from around the world are flocking to see it. Cast and crew take a short break to marvel at this wonder. **
(( FSD magically transports the cast and crew to Virginia Tech, where hundreds of visitors file through a greenhouse to get a glimpse, and a whiff, of a powerfully malodorous "corpse flower" as it bloomed. The large Indonesian plant's botanical name is Amorphophallus titanum. ))
** As it unfolds, the smell gets stronger. The plant emits a stench to attract decaying flesh-eating beetles, flies and sweat bees for pollination. Once it blooms, the odor lingers for about eight hours, then it takes several more years before the plant has enough energy to bloom again.
How bad does it smell? "It's like several days old road kill on a hot, sunny day," Wiley-Vawter said. She said she went home shortly before midnight Friday and returned about 8:15 a.m. Saturday and could smell the plant from her parking spot about 100 feet from the greenhouse.
"Inside the greenhouse it was quite overpowering," she said.