Over half a dozen corpse flowers—one of the largest and most disgusting-smelling plants in the world—bloomed in the U.S. in 2016, setting a record. The rare occurrence has left many botanists puzzled because between 1889 and 2008, only 157 corpse flower blooms were recorded.
“There’s a bunch of different theories out there,” says Marc Hachadourian, who works at the New York Botanical Garden. A corpse flower bloomed there last July. “Some people think the long, hot summer might have triggered them to flower.” That’s because the flowers are native to Sumatra, an island in Indonesia, where the climate is hot and humid.
“In reality, only the plants really know for sure why they’re all blooming,” says Hachadourian. Experts may never know the true cause of the rare bloomings, but they have certainly caused a stink!