Outdoors, Wolfgang the corpse flower is impressive but not overly offensive to the nose

Cars lined the streets Wednesday outside N.C. State’s JC Raulston Arboretum. Despite the drizzling rain, people still flocked to see and smell one of the most anticipated flower blooms in North Carolina.

The fetid flower, named Wolfgang, began blooming early Wednesday morning at the JC Raulston Arboretum, remained open for a few hours, then slowly began to close.

What makes Wolfgang’s bloom special?

Wolfgang currently sits peacefully outside, in a pond, with a short waterfall cascading behind it, a trimmed tree framing the scene, and a giant leaf set on display in front of the flower. Corpse flowers normally don’t grow a leaf and a bud at the same time, but Wolfgang had both. The leaf, which was about four feet tall, was cut last Monday and added to the display.

Unlike previous corpse flowers, which have bloomed in a tighter greenhouse, Wolfgang was moved to the more open space, where it could be seen by more people

“It took four of us to move Wolfgang across the pond and onto its pedestal, and I believe it took four or five of us to move it out of the greenhouse itself,” said Sarah Remington, a horticultural science intern at North Carolina State University. “We did a lot of setup and preparation to help make it look as nice as possible.”

Thanks to the rain, space and cool weather, Wolfgang’s pungent odor didn’t penetrate quite as powerfully. But those who stood close enough could still catch a few nasty whiffs.

“If it were hot and just humid with like little to no wind, it definitely would have smelled worse,” Remington said. “When we first came in, before the park was open, it smelled like a dead rat was sitting right in front of me.”

Wolfgang might be revolting but it is also special because corpse flowers are endangered, and supporting this beastly bloom shows effort in its species’ conservation.

“I hope what people take away from this is that there are these wonderful, odd, magnificent species out there that are being destroyed,” said Diane Mays, an N.C. State conservatory curator. “And we need to do whatever we can as humans to keep them with us on this Earth and get them out of the endangered list.”

The arboretum stayed open till 8 Wednesday night, and opens at 8:30 a.m. Thursday for people to catch one last-minute whiff. Your next chance to see Wolfgang in flower will be in two to five years. And after it closes Thursday, it’s heading back indoors.