A foul-smelling flower at the Calgary Zoo is gearing up to make a big stink again. The amorphophallus konjac – also known as the ‘voodoo lily’ – only blooms once a year.
This floral structure emits a pungent scent of decaying flesh to attract its natural pollinators, carrion flies,
The voodoo lily is native to Japan, China and Indonesia where it blooms in May; at the Zoo, it blooms every July.
The large underground tuber of the plant is used in far eastern cuisines to make flour used to make noodles, tofu and snacks.
If you’d like to catch a whiff of the voodoo lily, you can find it at the entrance to the Garden of Life in the Zoo’s ENMAX Conservatory.