The graduate students you often see in the livestream are suspending small air pumps that are sampling the volatile gases that the arum is giving off. They are taking the samples back to their lab to try to analyze the molecules that are responsible for the plant’s distinctive odor, their chemical precursors and timing of release. Please do not wear fragrance if you visit. Cologne, perfume, etc. can interfere with this research.
Below: Andy Leed, Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station/College of Agriculture and Life Sciences greenhouse manager, and Gwynne Lim, PhD candidate in the Department of Plant Biology, sample volatile gases given off by the titan arum as it began to open Sunday afternoon.
