Rare Giant Flower That Smells Like Decay Blooms in Australia: What to Know About This Unique Species

In Geelong, people have flocked to see a rare spectacle—the blooming of the Amorphophallus Titanum, also known as the Titan Arum. This giant flower blooms only once a decade, growing up to over 10 feet tall, making it one of the world’s largest and most extraordinary flowers.

With a striking appearance, the Titan Arum features a tall, pale yellowish stalk, or “spadix,” surrounded by a dark red, spiral-like structure called the “spathe.” The spathe resembles a twisted, waxy petal that houses the inflorescence within. Yet, it’s not only the flower’s unusual look and sporadic blooming that make it remarkable; it’s the overpowering smell of decay that draws crowds. Visitors to the Geelong Botanic Garden have lined up for a chance to experience its notorious stench, which lasts just 24 to 48 hours and has been likened to rotting flesh or sweaty socks, provoking reactions of retching and gagging.

This strong odor serves a purpose: it mimics the scent of decomposing bodies to attract carrion-loving insects like flies and beetles, essential for pollination. The flower’s deep red spathe, resembling raw meat, and its warm spadix create the illusion of a decaying carcass, luring in these pollinators who then transfer pollen as they depart in search of food.

The Titan Arum’s life cycle is as unique as its bloom. Beneath the surface, a massive underground “corm” stores energy for up to a decade before flowering, weighing up to 45 kilograms and making it the heaviest of any plant. Each year, a single green shoot, similar to a small tree, gathers energy until the flower can bloom. Fruiting requires such energy that it often causes the plant’s death. When pollination succeeds, each Titan Arum can produce around 400 reddish-orange fruits, each with two seeds, according to the Chicago Botanic Garden.

In the wild, the Titan Arum does not grow in Australia but on the limestone hills of western Sumatra’s rainforests in Indonesia, where it’s known as bunga bangkai, meaning “corpse flower.” First documented in 1878 by Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari, it has captivated both scientists and artists for its unique adaptations and persistence, suggesting that life on Earth may be a resilient, self-sustaining system.

Other flowers, like the Rafflesia arnoldii, Dracunculus vulgaris, Stapelia gigantea, Hydnora africana, and Helicodiceros muscivorus, also produce a scent of decay to draw similar pollinators, using a strategy called “sapromyophily.”

Despite its extraordinary survival mechanisms, the Titan Arum is endangered, with fewer than 1,000 individuals remaining in the wild, as listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants.