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What you need to know about these colorful, and smelly, flowers

March 21, 2026

In Jerusalem recently, I spotted a brilliant yellow rose and longed to know its origin.

It had wound its way up a giant yucca (Yucca gigantea/elephantipes), and some of its flowers extruded from the yucca’s brown leaf thatch at a height of 10 feet. This thatch or leaf skirt is an accumulation of dead leaves whose function is similar to what you see on Washingtonia (robusta and filifera) fan palms. Advantages to retaining this marcescent (dead but remaining attached to the plant) foliage include the protection of trunks from wind and sunburn and trapping moisture to reduce water loss as well as a general ecological benefit of providing habitat for insects, birds, and lizards where they can conceal themselves and build their nests.

My investigation, based not only on the form and color of the rose but its odor too, revealed its identity as Austrian briar (Rosa foetida). The species name refers to its fetid smell, likened to that of linseed oil or stink bugs, although some who sniff it find its fragrance sweet. Before the Austrian briar came along, garden roses were either white, pink, or red. Only through breeding this rose with other types did vivid yellow roses — along with new hybrid colors such as apricot, orange, copper, and reddish-orange — become regular garden fare. Incidentally, it was due to the early cultivation of this rose in Austria in the 1500’s that it was given its geographical name, although its origin was Central Asia.

Pink and red roses get their color from anthocyanin pigments, whereas yellow roses get theirs from carotenoid pigments. The presence of carotenoids in Austrian briar is significantly greater than the presence of anthocyanins in pink and red roses. Once carotenoids were diluted genetically through hybridization with anthocyanin-pigmented roses, and the foul odor associated with these yellow pigments disappeared (after hybridization with the sweetly fragrant Damascene and Gallic roses), there was a weakening in the Austrian briar’s immune system. The first cases of black spot were found on sweet-smelling yellow roses. Until today, black spot is more likely to occur on the foliage of yellow or orange roses than on red or pink ones.

The evolutionary advantage of fetid roses was that their odor deterred animal herds that grazed in their habitat. Odor is a botanical defense mechanism as much as thistles and thorns. Yet insects may also be attracted to scents unpleasant to us as several notable plant species instruct.

Voodoo lilies — Amorphophallus konjac and Sauromatum venosum — produce a flower that is 5-6 feet tall. The former blooms every 2-5 years for a week, and the latter produces a flower every year that blooms for a day. These plants grow from corms and will spread vegetatively in shady garden spots. Their flowers smell like rotting meat, attracting beetles and flies to pollinate them. A burgundy sheath known as a spathe encloses a columnar spadix to which female and male flowers are attached.

The most memorable of this group of exotic foul-smelling cormaceous plants is the corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum). It produces the tallest unbranched inflorescences of any plant, reaching 10 feet in its native Sumatra. Locally, the most famous corpse flower specimen is found at the Huntington Gardens in San Marino. It bloomed last summer, so we will have to wait another few years or more to see it flower again. While voodoo lilies are widely available from Internet vendors, corpse flower is not. If anyone knows of a source for this most magnificent of foul-smelling plants, please advise.

Gladwin iris or roast-beef plant (Iris foetidissima) has malodorous foliage when crushed. Flowers are not spectacular but attractive enough with pale mauve and tan petals. This iris’ ornamental feature is unforgettable orange-red seeds, which, clustered at more than 20 per pod, create quite a stir when dozens of pods open simultaneously on mature plants. The clumping foliage of this iris is also an attraction, and its vivid seeds in their pods are suitable for long-lasting dry arrangements.

And then we come to carrion flowers, those that smell like rotting meat and are pollinated by flies. With an appearance like that of bronzish-red starfish, carrion flowers (Stapelia spp.) hybridize freely, and there is much variability among them, with flowers of some species reaching up to six inches across. Stapelias are among the easiest of container plants to grow on account of their succulent stems (they are leafless) and minimal demand for sunlight. Frequently, patios and balconies have no more than half a day of direct sun or less, and so carrion flowers become a logical choice for these semi-outdoor rooms.

In response to mentioning the 13,000-year-old Jurupa oak clonal colony near Riverside, I received an email from Francis Jones, who gardens in Cypress, referencing a much older clonal cluster of shrubs in Tasmania: “You might be interested to know that there is a clonal colony in Tasmania that is thought to be at least 43,600 years old and possibly as old as 135,000 years based on fossilized leaf fragments in the area. The plant in question is known as king’s holly (Lomatia tasmanica), alluding to the appearance of its leaves. It is extremely rare and endangered and is found in a single discrete location on the island where it grows. Individual plants live for 300 years with attractive, but sterile, red flower spikes. Plants propagate by shoots suckering up from the roots or stems, falling and rooting in place.” Although it may not live for 300 years, the guitar plant (Lomatia tinctorial), also endemic to Tasmania, is a related species with guitar-shaped white flowers and delicate foliage. You can order it from Far Reaches Farm (farreachesfarm.com). It propagates readily from seed and cuttings.

California native of the week: The Canyon Prince cultivar of wild rye (Leymus condensatus) is a blue-leaved grass, which will, like many ornamental grasses, last for a year or more in a dry arrangement. It can grow in sun or light shade, but its blue color is strongest in full sun. It is hardy down to 10 degrees but will need water on a weekly basis in hot weather when growing inland at a distance from the coast. Rhizomes promote its spread in the garden, but they are easily dug up where Canyon Prince has expanded beyond the space allotted to it. It is widely available in native plant and even some conventional nurseries.

Do you have a rose variety or any other fragrant flower that deserves our attention? If so, please share your experience in an email to joshua@perfectplants.com. Your questions and comments as well as gardening conundrums and successes are always welcome.

Orange County Register

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What you need to know about these colorful, and smelly, flowers

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