Can you imagine having one of these growing indoors at your place? Fortunately, the smell that's emitted from this oversized bloom that's been described as "several days old road kill on a hot, sunny day" only lasts for 8 hours.

Its stench is a powerful attractant for flesh-eating bugs required for pollination but it is strong enough to knock you off your feet. This plant, Amorphophallus titanum commonly known as the Titan Arum, is a native to the rainforests of Indonesia where it blooms only every few years. The energy required to produce a bloom is obviously intense and therefore the plant will need to rest between flowering.

The bloom from the Titan Arum can reach a height of 3m (9.8ft) and will grow 10 times it's size in less than a month. The Corpse Flower consists of a deeply furrowed spathe that is dark green on the outside and burgundy inside and a yellow spadix that resembles an upturned french stick. The spadix is covered in pollen and the smell emits from within the spathe.

According to the wiki entry on this plant, the Titan Arum was adopted as the official flower of the Bronx, USA, in 1939 but has since been replaced with the day-lily. I can see the reason for the change just can't quite connect the instalment of this idea in the first place.

Source: Hundreds Watch 'Corpse Flower' Bloom