b"Viewing the corpse flower in person is obviously a rare and interesting experience. We love that this plant interests and excites the public, says Devin Dotson, public affairs specialist at the U.S. Botanical Gardens (USBG) in Washington, D.C. Weve seen consistent high interest in viewing our many corpse flower blooms through the years, whether in person, through online educational pro-grams or through live web cams that weve set up. The USBG has also displayed blooming corpse flowers in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2017 (three blooms) and 2020 (two blooms). And when you consider the amount of energy that must go into the production of the chemicals and heat during flowering, its really no wonder then that these plants only bloom every few years or even once a decade. In fact, the one at UT Knoxville hadnt flowered since at least 1999. However, in terms of whats the most important factor in getting blooming to occurdaylength, temperature, fertilityneither the USBG horticulture team nor others theyve spoken with have been able to identify a specific element thats able to trigger a bloom, says Dotson. Instead, the USBG team focuses on consistent high heat and high humidity the plant requires for healthy growth and adding energy into its corm, he says.Enough pot size for the corm to enlarge is critical. The corpse plant has the world's largest known corm, sometimes weighing up to 220 lbs. After Rotty Top flowered, Martin and his col-leagues remove the corm from the pot and measured the diam-eter, then multiplied that number by 2.5 for the next pot size. TheDaylength, temperature and fertility are important to a corpse leaves can be 13 feet wide. flower blooming.PHOTO CREDIT: U.S BOTANICAL GARDEUT Knoxville has three other corpse flowers and recently donated one to the Knoxville Zoo for their new exhibit. Another two may bloom within in the next three years. Ensure the Plants FutureOf course, diversity amongst the gene pool is important for successful conservation of any endangered plant or animal held in conservation collections. There are roughly 500 specimens of this plant in botanical gardens, university and private collectionsand all of them are closely related to each other. In 2018, the USGB helped organize a conference in partner-ship with Botanic Garden Conservation International on con-servation of rare plants that was attended by botanic garden professionals from around the world. Afterwards, the Tools and Resources for Endangered and Exceptional Plant Species (TREES) program was launched in 2019. Now, many botanic gardens are participating in a national corpse flower plant con-servation project working on genetic analysis so that they can be deliberate with breeding for genetic diversity purposes. Its also challenging that this plant, like many others in the TREES program, produces recalcitrant seeds which are difficult to store; theyre killed by the typical seed preservation methods of drying and freezing. However, its hopeful that more corpse flower plants than ever held in collections around the globe are being supported to bloom, and the public attention each plant receives may help aidAt the University of Tennessee Knoxville, the corpse flower was in the conservation of natural habitat. SW fondly called Rotty Top, as an ode to Rocky Top. 40/ SEEDWORLD.COMFEBRUARY 2022"