51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ

A perfect, stinky storm is brewing at the University of California, Davis. For the second year in a row, one of 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis' corpse flowers will be blooming, and waves of curiosity seekers, botanical enthusiasts and scientists are expected to converge at the greenhouse where the rare plant is housed.

Scientifically known as Amorphophallus titanum or titan arum, the plant has been affectionately dubbed "Tabatha the Titan." It is expected to make its odiferous arrival sometime after Aug. 5, according to Ernesto Sandoval, curator of the .

"The first day the flower opens up it will smell really, really nasty," Sandoval said. "The next day it will probably smell like a rotting pumpkin or rotting fish. That doesn't bother us. Because of the unusual smell and the large flower, it attracts a lot of attention. It's our ambassador plant."

Tabatha already has created a flurry of activity at the conservatory in anticipation of its grand show. Until the plant begins to bloom, public viewing hours will be held 3-7 p.m. at the conservatory, located just north of Storer Hall. On the day of the flower's opening, the conservatory will be open until 11 p.m. so people can experience the corpse flower at its smelly best.

From then until the flower withers and dies after several days, the public can visit between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. Web viewers will be able to watch the spectacle live from a webcam inside the greenhouse where Tabatha lives. The webcam will be live beginning on Thursday, Aug. 5, and run for eight days. A special 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis Web site -- -- has been developed for news, photos and video clips on the Tabatha the Titan, as well as the link to the webcam.

The arrival of Tabatha is providing a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience for two student interns at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis. In an online journal, Emerson Chen and Annie Dubrovskaya (who named the plant) are tracking the corpse flower's development and their experiences with assorted botanists, media and a parade of interested visitors. Read about their experiences at the .

Tabatha's arrival has also sparked interest among faculty members. Pomology Professor Ken Shackel will set up temperature probes near Tabatha to record the heat generated by the plant. Last year, Shackel recorded a 20-degree temperature spike up to 91.5 degrees during full bloom of "Ted the Titan." And Fair Oaks air-quality analyst Eric Winegar, who earned his doctorate in chemistry at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis in 1991, is bringing a mobile air-quality lab to campus to capture corpse flower emissions for a detailed chemical analysis.

Tabatha, grown from seed collected in an Indonesian jungle in 1995, emerged from a 26-inch-diameter pot about July 2 and now is growing about 2 inches a day. She has passed the 3-foot mark, and Sandoval expects her adult height to exceed last year's bloomer, which topped out at a comparatively modest 43 inches. In their native environment on the island of Sumatra, the flowers of Amorphophallus titanum can grow to nearly 9 feet.

As the titan arum opens, the central stalk of the bloom generates a tremendous amount of heat that propels distinctive oils called putrecines and cadaverines into the air. The scent of the corpse flower reminds people of rotting meat and other equally unappealing smells.

"It's actually a clever adaptation to get flies to help pollinate the flower," Sandoval said. "A flower's job is to always get pollinated. It offers food, shelter or deception. In this case, it's all deception because the flies can't eat it and can't lay their eggs in it, but they love the smell of it."

Tabatha currently has the shape of a green-speckled missile with a skirt. When the bloom opens, it will unfurl a ribbed, frilly petal-like structure known as a spathe, green on the outside and reddish-purple on the inside, around the base of a long conical structure, or "spadix," as high as 5 or 6 feet. The giant flower-like structure actually bears many small flowers at its base, just like a sunflower. The bloom should last for two to five days before collapsing, although Ted lasted more than a week.

Amorphophallus spends most of its life as an underground stem called a corm. Sandoval likened Tabatha's corm to a giant, 30-pound potato that is more than a foot in diameter. Once a year, the plant puts out a single green leaf that lasts from six to 12 months, storing increasing amounts of energy as carbohydrates in the corm. Eventually, it puts out a flower shoot instead, hoping to attract flies carrying pollen from another of its kind. After all that excitement, it goes back to one leaf a year, but may flower again after a few years' recuperation.

Tabatha's bloom status, campus location and parking recommendations also will be reported at . Sandoval will be giving daily online video updates at 3 p.m. once blooming is under way.

The Botanical Conservatory serves the university and public communities as an educational facility, research resource and genetic-diversity preserve. The only such facility in the Central Valley, it houses more than 3,000 plant species in more than 150 families that are mostly from the tropics, sub-tropics and desert regions.

The conservatory has seen a marked increase in the number of visitors as word of the corpse flower spreads and people learn about the other unusual plants living there. "We've seen a five-fold increase in tours in the last decade," Sandoval said. "More than 3,000 students from grade school on up visit the conservatory. Altogether we expect over 2,000 visitors for Tabatha this year."