Last week, the US Botanic Garden was abuzz with the beginning of two corpse flower blooms. But there’s another one to see—and it’s made of Legos.
Master builder Andrew Litterst finished the 4-foot-high replica yesterday, and it’s now on display at the Lego Discovery Center in Springfield, Virginia.
“My mom is a florist, so I’ve always been fairly up-to-date on different flora of the greater DC area,” says Litterst, who last spring built a Lego version of “Stumpy,” DC’s fan favorite cherry tree.
Native to Sumatra, Indonesia, corpse flowers are known for their unpredictable bloom cycles and foul odor, which is similar to the smell of rotting flesh. A single growth cycle can take two to three years, while blooms last three to four days. The flower’s notorious smell only occurs during the first 12 to 24 hours of a bloom, making them a crowd-puller at the Botanic Garden.
The Lego version is made of 7,500 pieces and stands at roughly half the height of the actual plants at the Garden. Though it’s not the real thing, Litterst says the plastic brick-version is already piquing the curiosity of Discovery Center visitors.
“I’ve had to explain the idea of a corpse flower to a number of people,” he says. “A lot of them have asked me, ‘What’s wrong with that figure of corn?’”
While Litterst’s build is unscented, he’s been asked about incorporating the corpse flower’s distinctive smell. His answer? Nope. However, visitors can catch a nod to the rotting meat stench in the form of a Lego T-bone steak hidden inside the model.
The Lego corpse flower remains on display for at least a week after the Garden’s actual blooms take place. One of the plants opened on Sunday, July 21. The other has recently shown signs of reaching peak bloom. After that, Litterst hopes to donate his build to the Garden.
“It’s kind of a nice little consolation for anyone that wasn’t able to see the actual corpse flower,” he says.
