Mystery man fondles famous ‘corpse flower’ in SF on live stream

Something compelled the man to ignore the warning signs in order to touch the smelliest plant in San Francisco, which reeks of rotten flesh at full bloom at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.

It’s up for debate what exactly the man intended to do to the nearly 10-foot tall “corpse flower” named Terra the Titan around noon on Monday. What’s not is that the whole strange incident was captured on the conservatory’s 24-hour live-stream.

In a YouTube video titled “Jerk messes with SF Conservatory Corpse Flower,” the backpack-wearing man grins as he appears to fondle and tug at the rare specimen, as a female accomplice captures it all on camera.

A man ignored warning signs Monday to stroke the “corpse flower” Terra the Titan at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. A man ignored warning signs Monday to stroke the “corpse flower” Terra the Titan at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Mystery man fondles famous ‘corpse flower’ in SF on live stream 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

Conservatory spokeswoman Nina Sazevich said Wednesday that Terra, a native of Sumatra, Indonesia, had bloomed late the week before and looked more like a “big cabbage” by the time the man apparently could not resist.

“We were all pretty saddened to see a visitor handling a plant in our collection with sort of a lack of respect for what the other visitors experience,” Sazevich said.

Volunteers had been guarding Terra, a titan arum, while the enormous plant’s bloom splayed open wide, emitting its funky fumes.

But the odor dissipated as the plant’s bloom — which has a short life of just three days or so — collapsed in on itself. Still, a set of stanchions and potted plants arrayed as protection for Terra evidently came up short.

More than 7,000 people visited the conservatory to see the 9-year-old plant, which was donated in 2014 by a San Francisco plant collector who said the “Titan” had gotten too big for the bathroom he kept it in.

The damage to Terra, though, appeared to be minimal, Sazevich said — and the conservatory planned to keep the bloom, which covers the plant’s phallic-like branch with bright green outside and deep purple inside, on display for a few more days, while it lasts.

“You understand why it’s important to make sure people don’t mess with it,” she said. “There’s a lot of people that love this plant. It’s sort of like a little bit of a teachable moment.”

Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @michael_bodley