Colorado State University’s corpse flower is preparing for a dramatic — and pungent — debut over Memorial Day weekend, marking the first time the 8-year-old tropical plant will fill the Fort Collins campus’s conservatory with the stench of decaying flesh.

The flower came out of dormancy three weeks ago and began growing and shooting stalks, CSU officials said in a news release this week. The corpse flower, named Cosmo, grew more than 5 inches over the weekend.

Experts predict Cosmo will bloom Sunday or Monday, releasing the strongest smell of rotting flesh for the first 12 to 24 hours. A corpse flower only blooms every few years and the bloom itself only lasts two to three days. Cosmo probably won’t bloom for another three to five years, according to CSU.

Hailing from Sumatra, Indonesia, there are likely less than 1,000 corpse flowers still in the wild, according to the U.S. Botanic Garden.

Cosmo arrived in Colorado in 2016 after Plant Growth Facilities Manager Tammy Brenner picked up the flower during a plant swap at an Association of Educator and Greenhouse Research Curators conference.

Because they’re endangered, botanical gardens and universities cultivate corpse flowers to preserve their genetics and learn more about them, CSU officials said in a news release.

This will be Cosmo’s first time blooming and releasing the infamous stench that draws pollinators like carrion beetles and flies.

One of Denver Botanic Gardens’ corpse flowers, Lil’ Stinker, last bloomed in 2022.

The conservatory at 1241 Libbie Coy Way in Fort Collins plans to offer public viewing of the flower when it blooms and will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. during those few days. More details will be posted on the university’s website when Cosmo blooms, though there is a small chance the flower may not bloom at all.

For those who don’t want to stand in line, the university set up a livestream of the corpse flower on YouTube.

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