Thousands flock to see rare, smelly corpse flower bloom in Sydney

A rare plant known as the corpse flower bloomed in Sydney on Friday for the first time in more than a decade, emitting an odor likened to rotting flesh and delighting thousands who queued for a whiff.

For the past week, curiosity seekers have been visiting the specimen nicknamed Putricia – a combination of "putrid" and "Patricia" – at the city's Royal Botanic Garden. The institution stayed open until midnight on Thursday to accommodate the crowd.

The corpse flower's scientific name is amorphophallus titanum and is called bunga bangkai in Indonesia, where it is found in the wild. The oversize flower features fluted crimson petals and can measure more than a meter (3 feet) across with a pointed center stalk that can top 3 meters (10 feet).

The plant typically does not bloom more than once every few years and it lasts only about a day. A specimen has not bloomed in Sydney since 2010.