Titan TV: Live smelly plant now on a desktop near you!

UW–Madison’s giant stinky flower is now just a click away.

As of Monday (June 6), live views of the titan arum known as Big Bucky are available on the Internet. The large flower is expected to transition into malodorous bloom sometime this week, and it may draw large crowds seeking to experience the rare plant.

Produced by the UW–Madison Division of Information Technology, the titan arum webcast is streaming at two different rates to accommodate the range of broadband users, and downloadable clips and “highlights” and interviews for dial-up users.

In 2001, a cruder Web cam protocol was used and generated an enormous volume of interest worldwide. The current broadcast is a live video stream, as opposed to the photo sequences used by Web cams.

The titan arum is native to the equatorial rain forests of Indonesia. It is a relatively rare plant and is known for its capacity to generate an overpowering smell of carrion when it blooms. The smell attracts pollinators such as flies, beetles and bees. In captivity, there have been only an estimated 65 blooms since 1889, when the first cultured titan arum blossomed at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, England.