Mr. Stinky gets lucky

Mr. Stinky finally had his day. For weeks now Mr. Stinky has been gorging on Kelp Meal and chicken manure in anticipation of this moment. He's been drinking gallons of water to help him maintain rigidity throughout the tender act. He's been emanating an unbelievable stench, described as smelling like a dead wet rat, from oily glands, in hope of satisfaction.

Stinky's mating probably didn't happen exactly as he would expect. Instead of being fertilized by a fly or a carrion beetle as he would have been in the wild, Mr. Stinky had to settle for a horticulturist on a ladder with a yardstick.

Mr. Stinky is a Titan Arum, or corpse flower located at the Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami. For only the third time in the past six years, Mr. Stinky has sent up a giant, very smelly spadix, indicating his readiness to be pollinated. The pollen used on Mr. Stinky was gathered earlier from a smaller Titan Arum located in the garden. Just moments after the pollen was placed inside Mr. Stinky's bloom, the huge petals began to curl up and fold in upon the central spadix. If pollination was successful, the dark green stalk at the plant's base (the peduncle) will grow to five or six feet and produce olive shaped fruits. If it didn't work, Mr. Stinky will just wait for his next chance in another year or so.

Note: There is lots more information about corpse flowers in these wus:
corpse flower
Amorphophallus titanum
and titan arum.

Editor's note: Mr. Stinky was indeed successfully pollinated and produced fruits.
http://mgonline.com/stinky.html