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'Corpse flower' blooms after seven years - rare plant with 'deadly' smell attracts thousands of visitors

'Corpse flower' blooms after seven years - rare plant with 'deadly' smell attracts thousands of visitors

People have been queuing for hours at a greenhouse in Sydney, Australia, to smell the infamous corpse flower after it bloomed for the first time in years.

The large flower, officially called amorphophallus titanium, gets its cadaverous nickname from its "deadly" odor.

The rare specimen, of which there are thought to be only about 1000 worldwide, has attracted thousands of admirers to Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens, with its latest bloom coming after a seven-year wait.


When its flower was spotted in December, it was just 25 centimetres tall. Until Thursday when it was estimated to be 1.6 metres tall, writes sky news, the Telegraph reports.

For a week, the flower was on display in a grand, Gothic display in front of a purple curtain, attracting up to 20,000 admirers who flocked, hoping to experience the scent for themselves.

This particular flower has been nicknamed Putricia by fans and has become something of a social media star, with a 24/7 live stream created by the botanical garden attracting millions of views.

The corpse flower only blooms for one to three days, despite needing a decade to do so.

Amorphophallus titanum is native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra and is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. /Telegraph/