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RARE AND UNUSUAL PLANT SET TO BLOOM ON THURSDAY, MAY 17   (Tue., May 15, 2012) − Honolulu's Foster Botanical Garden announces that its Amorphophallus titanum, an endangered species native to Sumatra Indonesia, is expected to bloom on Thursday, May 17, 2012.  This short lived flower only blooms once every 3 to 5 years. The plant is at Foster Botanical Garden's Orchid Conservatory.   According to Scot Mitamura, a Honolulu Botanical Garden horticulturalist, the Amorphophallus titanum is the largest unbranched inflorescence in the plant kingdom. Contributing to this plants' exotic allure is its horrific odor of rotted flesh, which serves to attract the carrion beetles that pollinate the flower.   Foster Botanical Garden, at 50 North Vineyard Boulevard, is in the center of busy downtown Honolulu and is the oldest of the City's botanical gardens. The garden displays a mature and impressive collection of tropical plants. Some of the magnificent trees in this 14-acre garden were planted in the 1850s by Dr. William Hillebrand. The botanic garden also includes a palm collection, the Lyon Orchid Garden, hybrid orchid display, the Prehistoric Glen, and a giftshop.   There are five distinct gardens forming Honolulu's unique botanical garden system; Foster Botanical Garden, Ho`omaluhia Botanical Garden, Koko Crater Botanical Garden, Lili`uokalani Botanical Garden, and Wahiawa Botanical Garden. The five gardens, located in different ecological settings on Oahu, offer visitors year-round opportunities to explore unique and diverse plant collections.   Garden admission is free, except at Foster Botanical Garden. Cost for admission at Foster Garden is: $5.00 - general, 13 years and older; $3.00 - Hawaii resident 13 years and older with ID, $1.00 - Child 6 to 12 years old; free - Child 5 years old and under (must be with adult). Call 522-7066 for information.   The mission of the Honolulu Botanical Gardens is to plan, develop, curate, maintain and study documented collections of tropical plants in an aesthetic setting for the purposes of conservation, botany, horticulture, education, and recreation.   - 30 -   Media Contact: Scot Mitamura, Orchid Horticulturist, Honolulu Botanical Gardens, 532-1250.     Amorphophallus Titanum on May 15, 2012