Basel’s giant titan arum flower continued to attract visitors on Sunday, with about 500 visitors an hour passing through the hothouse to see the two-metre high bloom.
This content was published on
1 minute
swissinfo.ch and agencies
However, the sight will soon be over. On Sunday afternoon huge dark red petal-like structure surrounding the yellow flowering structure began to wilt.
The central structure itself is likely to collapse on Monday, the custodian of the botanical gardens, Heinz Schneider, told the Swiss News Agency.
On Saturday alone, more than 10,000 people came to see it. Adults paid SFr10 ($11.30) and were allowed to stay for two minutes before being shepherded out to make room for the next group.
The money raised should be enough to pay for the next two years of events at the garden, where entrance is normally free, Schneider said.
Schneider said that most of Sunday’s visitors had come from out of town.
“It’s crazy,” he told Swiss television. “Plant fans from all over Switzerland want to see the titan arum.”
Those who waited for the weekend did not have to contend with the stink of carrion produced by the flower in the first few hours of blooming.
In the first night the stench had been such that visitors had to hold their hands over their mouths. However, the garden’s shop has done a roaring trade in “titan arum perfume”.
The gardens will remain open on Monday, and the webcams will continue to show the plant even after that.
The last time a titan arum came into flower in Switzerland was in 1936.
Popular Stories
More
Foreign affairs
European nations snub Swiss-made weapons over Ukraine restrictions
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Stinking giant a hit in Basel
This content was published on
The only previous time a titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) produced a flower in Switzerland was 75 years ago. World-wide, there have only been 134 recorded instances of cultivated plants blooming. The nearly two-metre tall flower opened on Friday evening. The flower started to poke out of the soil in March, and in the past few…
This content was published on
Delving into the miniscule world of pollen, the “micronaut” shows that the grains are in fact very varied and very beautiful – and that they go to great lengths to have sex. His work recently featured in National Geographic, which devoted a whole article to the topic of pollen, along with an Oeggerli gallery. He…
This content was published on
The international study, involving Zurich University’s Florian Schiestl, is published in the January edition of The American Naturalist. “Orchids are special. They are maybe the world champions in having evolved diversity of pollination systems,” Schiestl, a professor at the university’s Institute of Systematic Botany, told swissinfo.ch. Most flowering plants reward pollinators, such as bees, wasps…
This content was published on
Furthermore, the salt used to de-ice roads in winter has had a severe impact on habitat, driving out such common wayside plants as daisies and dandelions, and enabling salt-tolerant plants to take root. As a result, some plants which used to be found only on the coast are moving inland. Botanist Raymond Delarze, who runs…
This content was published on
Martin Nil had an eye for flowers. A village pastor in the Bernese Oberland between 1912 and 1949, he was also a keen photographer. He went high and low to capture photographs of alpine flora and the mountainous landscape, and then meticulously coloured the images by hand. His grandson looks back at some of his…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.