People have queued for hours at a Sydney greenhouse to get a whiff of the infamous corpse flower, as it bloomed for the first time in years.
The sizeable flower, officially called the amorphophallus titanium, gets its nickname from its “deadly” stench, described by some as the smell of rotting flesh, though others detect hints of rotting food, sweaty socks or even garlic.
The rare specimen, of which there are only thought to be about 1,000 worldwide, has attracted thousands of admirers at the Royal Sydney Botanic Garden, with its blooming finally happening after a seven-year wait since it arrived at the centre.
When its flower was spotted in December it was just 25cm (10 inches) high. By Thursday, as its flower spike slowly opened, it was 1.6m (5ft 3) tall.
For a week, the flower fronted a stately and gothic display in front of a purple curtain and wreathed in mist from a humidifier at the garden, attracting up to 20,000 admirers who filed past, hoping to experience the smell for themselves.
People line up to view the smell plant. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
This particular flower has been nicknamed Putricia by fans – a combination of “putrid” and “Patricia”, and has become something of a social media star, with a 24/7 live stream established by the botanic garden drawing close to a million views in the days approaching its bloom.
When it finally opened on Thursday, fans in attendance took selfies and leaned in for a sniff – and staff prepared for the worst.
“We did have a few conversations early on about whether or not we should have vomit bags in the room,” said garden spokesperson Sophie Daniel, who designed Putricia’s display, adding garden staff ultimately decided against it.
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Pic: Reuters
“I haven’t heard of anyone actually being harmed.”
The corpse flower only blooms for one to three days despite taking up to a decade to do so.
“The fact that they open very rarely, so they flower rarely, is obviously something that puts them at a little bit of a disadvantage in the wild,” Ms Daniel said.
“When they open, they have to hope that another flower is open nearby, because they can’t self-pollinate.”
The amorphophallus titanum is native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra and is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.