Nature & Travel

Botanical attraction in southeastern Polish castle kicks up a stink

Castle Museum in Łańcut
Marcin Konsek / Wikicommons and the Castle Museum in Łańcut
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Known for its distinctively vile smell, a rare and newly-bloomed Dragon Lily has been given star billing by officials at the Castle Museum in Łańcut in south-eastern Poland.

Known also as the ‘Dracunculus vulgaris’, the flower is native to the Balkans but can also be found as far afield as Greece and Turkey. Treasured by botanists, the species is characterized by a large purple spathe and spadix.

Yet whilst the flower is celebrated for its beauty, it is more famed for the offensive odor it emits. Likened to rotting meat, the stench naturally attracts insects. Drawn by the prospect of a meaty feast, beetles and flies are then temporarily trapped inside the plant before being released after pollen is shed.

Castle employee Wiesław Koza said: “the insect falls inside the plant and is held all night long, only regaining freedom after it is pollinated.”

Described as “a novelty” by castle staff, the flower is set to become a crowd-pulling curiosity over the coming weeks.
Source: Polsat News, PAP, Facebook
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