One of my largest and most unusual garden flowers has bloomed and gone already. The dragon lily (Dracunculus vulgaris) opened on Wednesday. It smells exactly like dead animal. It’s quite amazing. And awful. I had just asked my neighbor if he would prefer that I take the plant out. He said he has never smelled it, but his wife did. I asked if she would prefer that I take the plant out. He said I should leave it.
Peggy stopped by yesterday after work to smell it and to compare MRI films. The flower was already faded! One day? That hardly seems long enough. But I guess it has been dry the last few days, and yesterday was really hot. So maybe it makes sense that the flower would be dying. But it didn’t even stink a little when Peggy tried to sniff it. Dang.
I did take some pictures on Wednesday though. I may not like how it smells, but I love how this flower looks: giant, purple, and weird.
It almost looks like leather and cloth. It would be good inspiration for clothing – The Dragon Lily Collection. But they shouldn’t make cologne to go with it.
How thoughtful of you to ask your neighbors if it bothered them. Why on earth would a plant smell like dead animals?
Also – how ironic that it was scentless when it was dying.
Profound.
The flower is pollinated by flies. The dead animal smell draws them in. This year, the flies were all shiny and green. They were pretty up against the purple flower. You can sort of see one in the second picture.
To make more carrion carnations? Now there’s a name.
I see it in the bottom right corner! “Oooo – shiny!”
That flower would make a cool hat.
Hehe…that made me laugh!
Or maybe a cool beach umbrella.