USBG Corpse Flower: July 15

For the fifth day in a row, I present my photos of Washington, DC’s US Botanical Garden’s corpse flower. As always I try to take photos from the same spots, so that I can compare to photos from previous day’s visits. To best see the changes, compare the photos below with my photos from July 11, July 12, July 13, and July 14. All the photos below were taken from approximately the same locations as yesterday. The clearest changes are still with the green petals that covered the spathe. In the first photo below, the green petal on the left has now completely collapsed. The green petal on the right side has now shriveled to about three inches or so below the spathe fringe, which is another inch or two below where it was yesterday. The spathe fringe seems to be as tight to the spadix as before. While it is not on USBG’s website, I read in a news article that it is still growing. Because there is little reference points in my photos, any height or width growth has been hard for me to detect. However, it occurred to me today when taking the photos, that I have been taking the photos further and further away everyday to get the entire plant in the photo. However as I have an adjustable lens, to a certain degree I can do that with just adjusting the lens. Also, it is easiest to tell if you go back to the July 11 photos, but the spadix has been slowly growing taller. Look at the height of the spadix past the the fringe of spathe. It is definitely getting taller. Finally, there still is no smell.