A rare corpse flower has bloomed at the Adelaide Botanical Gardens, and people are lining up to get a glimpse and a sniff of the unusual plant.

The “corpse flower” was given its name due to the distinct smell of decaying meat it gives off. Whilst it sounds gross and really not like something you want to get too close to, people are lining up to get a sniff anyway.

The corpse flower can take up to seven years to bloom – that’s when it starts smelling like dead things. The flowers are incredibly rare, and Adelaide’s collection of them is one of the largest in the world.

Adelaide Botanical Garden’s horticultural curator Matt Coulter told news.com.au “Over the last 10 years, we have been working hard to develop techniques to successfully grow and propagate the rare titan arum.” The gardens have now seen four flowerings of the plant since their planting began a decade ago.

The flower is not expected to stay in bloom for much longer and once it is pollinated it will die. So if you’re in Adelaide and want to check out a flower that smells like death, get in quick over the weekend!

Watch: Corpse flower time lapse

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