Threat looms over corpse flower amid poor record keeping

Sydney: The corpse flower blooms after many years for a short period of time. People from all over the world want to see a glimpse of this rare species. The flower is famous for its stinky smell, attracting pollinators like carrion beetles and flesh flies. It blooms for just 24 to 48 hours, making it different from others. Unfortunately, the flower is now gradually becoming endangered due to climate change, habitat loss, and a new threat emerging like poor and inconsistent record-keeping.

How to keep corpse plants healthy is a daunting task. The female parts of flower blooms before the male parts. That is why pollination is difficult. This makes it very important for scientists to know the plant’s history to avoid inbreeding. However, several botanic gardens don’t have complete records. The moment a corpse flower is taken to another destination, its breeding history generally doesn’t go with it. Therefore, accidental inbreeding takes place, affecting the plant’s genetic health as well.

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Researchers from Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden went on to study about 1,200 corpse flowers at 111 places across the world. Records were available in all kinds of formats, such as handwritten notes, spreadsheets, and email. But it is difficult to find out the track plant’s ancestor, making it hard to track its ancestry.

Lead researcher Olivia Murrell said the problem is serious. “The second you walk into its greenhouse, its smell smacks you across the face,” she said. But without better record-keeping, we risk losing this incredible plant forever.

The study reveals that the communication and data-sharing process should be smooth among the institutions to save the corpse flower from extinction.