Corpse Flower A Hit In New York

A plant which smells like rotting flesh is attracting hordes of visitors to the New York Botanical Garden, in New York City.

The “corpse flower” or Amorphophallus titanium, was planted 10 years-ago, at the New York Botanical Garden, and finally started to bloom last Thursday. While blooming, the plant emits a stench that smells like rotting flesh or, as one youngster was quoted in The Guardian as saying, “A thousand pukes.”

According to the Associated Press, it's native to Sumatra's equatorial rain forests and emits an odor like rotting flesh while it's briefly in bloom. It's one of the largest flowers on earth and can reach 6 feet in height. It emits the stench to attract pollinators.

The smelly performance will be short, however, because the bloom dies after 24-36 hours.

You are in luck; there’s no need to rush to New York City to view the corpse flower. The plant can be viewed by going to YouTube that hosts a live webcast of the event. But, you will miss out on the gross-out thrill of the odor.