Extract from ABC News
Four titan arums are set to bloom this week at Cairns Botanic Gardens, with two already on full display. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)
In short:
Four titan arums, known as corpse flowers, are set to bloom within days of each other at the Cairns Botanic Gardens.
The flowering structure only appears for 24 hours once every few years, emitting a powerful odour likened to rotting flesh.
Two of the blooms have already opened, attracting thousands of visitors keen to see and smell the plant firsthand.
Four rare titan arums — known as corpse flowers due to their pungent odour — have bloomed within days of each other at the Cairns Botanic Gardens in Far North Queensland, drawing thousands of visitors.
Renowned for their size and stench of its flowers, the plants produce a large burgundy flowering structure known as an inflorescence, which can exceed 3 metres in height and contain clusters of small flowers.
The inflorescence only appears once every few years for about 24 hours, emitting a scent likened to rotting flesh or "bin juice" to attract pollinators.
The titan arums have delighted and disgusted thousands of visitors this week including Izzy Dunn, 7, and her dad. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)
Cairns Botanic Gardens has 15 titan arums in its collection, with two flowering this week and two more poised to open in the coming days.
Curator Charles Clarke said while the plants typically bloomed during the hot summer months, it was "something of a record" to have four opening in such a short period.
"I think the Bonn botanic gardens in Germany has had a lot of these things flower over the years, so that would probably be the record holder," he said.
"But we're not aware of any published examples of more than four flowers in one week."
Charles Clarke says the simultaneous flowerings have kept staff busy over the Christmas period. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)
'Bin juice' with a hint of 'rotting fish'
More than 2,000 people have visited the attraction since the first plant fully flowered on Monday, with appraisals of the scent ranging from "a bit rubbishy" to "like rotting tropical fruit".
Dr Clarke said the garden's own survey of visitors had helped narrow down the description to "bin juice, dead animals such as wallaby and rat, with a slight background flavour of rotting fish".
"It's a bit like dog poo," said Cairns resident Terina Sylvester, who had attended four or five previous flowerings.
Terina Sylvester tries to make it to each titan arum flowering in Cairns. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)
Meeah Webb, 11, from Townsville described the smell as "pretty disgusting".
Newcastle resident Julie Young braved wet weather to visit two days in a row while on holiday.
"I grabbed my daughters and said, 'Come on, we need to go and have a look at this plant,'" she said.
"We're so grateful that we were here to witness the plant in all its glory."
Julie Young has visited the titan arums twice in two days. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)
Cairns the 'perfect' climate
The titan arum is native to West Sumatra in Indonesia, where the species has declined due to deforestation, and is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The first flowers grown outside the species' native habitat were cultivated at Kew Gardens in the UK in 1889. The plants have since proliferated around botanic gardens in Australia and other parts of the world, where they have become a major drawcard for visitors keen to see and smell their flowers firsthand.
Dr Clarke said the species was very much at home in tropical Cairns, where it regularly produced large and spectacular inflorescences.
Staff have cut a window in one of the blooms for cross-pollination. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)
"If we couldn't flower these things in Cairns … [there would] be something wrong with us because our climate is just about perfect for them," he said.
"We just plant them and watch them go."
Dr Clarke expected this round of flowering to conclude by the end of the week.
"I'd say probably sometime over the next [day or two] we'll get another bloom open, but they're very unpredictable," he said.
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