A Flower You Don't Want To Sniff

Amorphophallus titanum, or "corpse plants" emit an intensely powerful stench.

The plant invests a lot of energy during blooming to heat up a sulfur-based compound in the flower stalk so the rotting flesh-like odor will spread several feet away from the plant to attract pollinators.

In spite of the plant's long preparation for its flowery display, the blooms last only one to three days, while the stinking odor remains for only about eight hours after it blooms. A flowering stalk can be seven to 12 feet in height and three to four feet in diameter. After the bloom dies a leaf stalk resembling a tree sapling begins to emerge.

The corpse plant was first discovered in Indonesia in 1878 and cultivated at the Royal Botanic Gardens in England in 1887. It first bloomed in the United States at the New York Botanical Garden 1937.

--LiveScience Staff

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Credit: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University