Belgians Line Up to Catch Glimpse of Blooming ‘Corpse Flower,’ One of the Smelliest Flowers

The National Botanic Garden in Belgium is flooded with locals and tourists who are eagerly waiting to catch a glimpse of the blooming 'corpse flower' that is the world's smelliest and largest flower.

Despite its terrible odor that is similar to the smell of a decomposing mammal, visitors are eagerly waiting in long queues to catch a glimpse of the rare blossom as it stays open for just three days before shrinking again.

People consider this as a life time experience as the flower rarely blossoms.

Titan Arum also called as corpse flower is a flowering plant that can grow up to 3 meters in height and is the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. Due to its foul smell it attracts beetles that feed on carrion and flesh flies that pollinate in it. First the female flowers open then the following day the male flowers open. They normally grow in the wild in the equatorial rainforest of Sumatra, Indonesia, where now they are endangered, source Wikipedia.

The National Botanic Garden is known for its extensive collection of different plant species and is one of the world's largest botanical gardens. There are nearly 18,000 plants species. Since the corpse flower was planted in 2008, this is the third time that the flower has bloomed in the last five years.

Franck Hidvegi, a spokesman for the botanic garden said to AFP, "It's the largest flower in the world. At their greatest, corpse flowers can grow to nearly three meters (9.8 feet) tall. The specimen at the Brussels botanic garden measures 2.44 meters (8 feet), which is quite exceptional. This really is an event that we are thrilled to share with the public today".

Reports according to Latino Post state that, it was in the United State that the first flowering of corpse flower was documented at the New York Botanical Garden in 1937 and 1939. The second event led to titan arum being declared the official flower of Bronx in 1939 and later in 2000 this designation was taken away by the day lily.