Don’t Sniff That Flower!

Then or Than?

Use then when you are talking about time. It can mean “next” or “at that time.” (Zane played chess, then he ate dinner.) Use than to make a comparison. (Zane likes chocolate more than vanilla.)

When you think of flowers, you probably don’t think of rotting meat. But that’s what a corpse flower smells like. This unusual flower has a foul stench that’s said to be worse then/than a dirty diaper. The nauseating smell has been compared to dead fish, boiled cabbage, sweaty socks, and, as its name suggests, decaying flesh.

But super stink is not the only thing that makes this plant unique. It’s also one of the largest flowers in the world—it can grow to be more then/than 8 feet tall. (The record is
12 feet. That’s taller then/than a basketball hoop!)

Why the stink? The purpose of the corpse flower’s smell is to attract bugs that help the flowers reproduce. Here’s how it works: Certain bugs find the smell of rotting flesh irresistible. These bugs climb into the plant and get covered in pollen, which they then/than carry to the next corpse flower. 

This pollen fertilizes the second corpse flower, allowing it to grow fruit. Then/Than the seeds in the fruit grow into new stinky flowers.

The corpse flower is native to the rainforests of Indonesia. Corpse flowers can also be found in botanical gardens across the United States, where they are a big tourist attraction.

This past summer, three corpse flowers bloomed at the Huntington Botanical Gardens in California. Twenty thousand visitors flocked to see—and smell—the flowers, but they had to hurry. A corpse flower’s smelly bloom usually doesn’t last more then/than 48 hours. So if you ever get the chance to see one in bloom, don’t hesitate. But when you catch a whiff, don’t say we didn’t warn you!