This rare flower that smells like ‘rotten flesh’ will bloom soon inside a Michigan home

By Sarah Michals and Johnny Sartin

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    DEXTER, Michigan (WXYZ) — For over half their lives, twins Rainey and Evelyn Hauser have shared their dad’s attention with a leafy sibling of sorts — an endangered tropical plant called an Amorphophallus titanum.

“He’d always say, ‘You’re going to be famous one day when it’s on the news’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, sure,'” Evelyn Hauser said.

Well, it looks like that day has come.

Walking 7 Action News into their Dexter conservatory, Kevin Hauser gestured toward the flower saying, “Her name’s ‘Corpsey.'”

Why Corpsey?

When the plant blooms in 10 to 20 days, it will try to mimic a dead body, rising in temperature to 98 degrees.

“For the day, two days that it’s blooming, it will actually smell like rotten flesh and it will fill this house with a horrible smell,” Kevin Hauser shared.

When asked if they were nervous about the scent, Rainey Hauser shrugged jokingly saying, “Oh, just a little bit.”

But man will it be worth it for the Hauser family.

Kevin Hauser has been caring for Corpsey for six years, first buying the plant as a one-year-old corm.

He showed us pictures of the corm when he first bought it; it was just 2 inches.

This past summer, it rivaled the size of their toddler Lance.

“So how the plant works is that it grows into these progressive leaf cycles, it gets larger and larger. In fact behind me, this is a 3-year-old Amorphophallus titanium,” Kevin Hauser said, showing us another tree-like plant.

When 7-year-old Corpsey blooms, it will be the first time the plant does into a flower.

Kevin Hauser said it will be only the sixth to bloom ever in the state of Michigan. But that’s not all.

“I believe, after a lot of research, that this will be the first blooming that has ever occurred globally in a private residence,” he added

The bloom will be bitter sweet to the Hauser family who have spent years nurturing Corpsey.

Hopefully, she’ll bloom again in another seven years. But they have the stinky cycle to look forward to first.

“As long as it doesn’t get to my room, it’s fine,” Evelyn Hauser said.

If you’d like to receive updates on the blooming of Corpsey or be considered to come view the flower, you can email Kevin Hauser at corpsybloom2024@gmail.com.

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