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Thousands wait for foul smell of corpse flower
PRINT ALL READINGS (PDF)Corpse Flower - Level 0
Thousands of people went to a botanic garden in Australia to smell a corpse flower. It is the world's smelliest flower. A corpse is a dead body. The smell is bad, so some people held their nose. Other people coughed and held their breath. Some people said the smell was like a dead mouse or rotting garbage.
The corpse flower is very rare. It is an endangered species. There are only a few hundred of the flowers left in the wild. A lot of the forests where it grows have been cut down. The flower is one of the biggest in the world. It lives to be over 40 years old. However, it flowers once every ten years and opens for a day or two.
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Corpse Flower - Level 1
People who like bad smells were in luck this week. They could smell the corpse flower – the world's smelliest plant. It gets its name from a corpse – a dead body. Thousands of visitors went to smell it in a botanic garden in Australia. Some people held their nose when they were near the flower. Others coughed and held their breath because of the bad smell. Some visitors said the smell was like a dead mouse or rotting garbage.
The corpse flower is very rare. It is an endangered species. There are only a few hundred of the plants left in the wild. A lot of the forest where the plant grows has been cut down. The flower is one of the biggest in the world. It grows to three metres high and lives over 40 years. However, it flowers once a decade and opens only for a day or two. The smell of the corpse flower attracts beetles and flies. They pollinate the flower so it can grow again.
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11 online activities | 8-page printable (PDF)
Corpse Flower - Level 2
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People who like bad-smelling flowers were in luck this week. They could see and smell the corpse flower – the world's smelliest plant. It gets its name from a corpse – a dead body. The flower attracted thousands of visitors to a botanic garden near Melbourne, Australia. The plant bloomed on Monday. Thousands of people waited to see it. Some people held their nose when they were near the flower. Others coughed and held their breath because of the bad smell. An Australian news channel said visitors described the smell as being like a dead mouse or rotting garbage.
The corpse flower is extremely rare. A conservation group listed it as an endangered species. There are only a few hundred of the plants left in the wild, in Indonesia. A lot of the forest where the plant grows has been cut down to grow palm oil. The flower is one of the biggest in the world. It can grow to three metres high and live over 40 years. However, it flowers just once a decade and opens only for a day or two. The smell of the corpse flower attracts beetles and flies. The insects pollinate the flower so it can bloom again.
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11 online activities | 8-page printable (PDF)
Corpse Flower - Level 3
People who like foul-smelling flowers were in luck this week. They had a chance to see and smell the world's smelliest plant, called the corpse flower. A corpse is a dead body. The flower gets its name because it smells like rotting flesh. The bloom attracted thousands of visitors to the Geelong Botanic Garden, just south of Melbourne, Australia. The plant began blooming on Monday. More than five thousand people visited the garden to see it. Some people had to hold their nose when they were near the flower. Others coughed and held their breath because of the foul smell. Australia's Nine News channel reported that visitors described the smell as being like a dead mouse or rotting garbage.
The corpse flower is extremely rare. The plant is native to Indonesia. An international conservation group listed it as an endangered species. The group says there are only a few hundred of the plants left in the wild. A lot of the forest in which the plant grows has been cut down. Corporations are using the land to grow palm oil. The flower is one of the biggest in the world. It can grow to a height of three metres and live over 40 years. However, it blooms just once a decade and opens only for a day or two. The flower smells like the rotting flesh of a dead animal. This smell attracts beetles and flies. The insects pollinate the flower so it can bloom again.
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25 online activities | 27-page printable | 2-page mini-lesson
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