Tune Into a Livestream of a Blooming Corpse Flower in Sydney

You probably wouldn’t line up to smell something reminiscent of gym socks and rotting garbage—but when that something is a corpse flower, many will make an exception. According to the Associated Press, people in Sydney are coming in droves to see (and smell) the stinky plant bloom. If you’re more interested in the visual spectacle, you can see the rare blooming of the flower via livestream without inhaling its odor.

The corpse flower at the Royal Sydney Botanic Garden—nicknamed Putricia, a combination of putrid and Patricia—is drawing an enormous crowd. People are waiting three hours to see her bloom and get a whiff, with 20,000 fans having visited the plant so far. 

Why is Putricia such a big deal? The last time a corpse flower bloomed in the Royal Sydney Botanic Garden was 15 years ago. The species blooms for 24 hours every few years in its natural habitat, so the chance to see it in person is rare. Corpse flowers are also only native to the rainforests of Sumatra in Indonesia and are endangered due to deforestation. Putricia finally reached full bloom on January 23. You can watch a 24-hour live feed of the plant from the Botanic Gardens of Sydney’s YouTube channel below.

What Is a Corpse Flower?

The corpse flower technically isn’t a single flower; it’s a cluster of them. Its central spike (the spadix) has a base surrounded by two rings of female and male flowers. 

Another interesting thing about the plant is its incredible size. It’s the world’s largest unbranched inflorescence, or plant made of smaller flowers. Cultivated corpse flowers can be 6 to 8 feet tall, but that’s nothing compared to wild ones—they can reach 12 feet. 

The corpse flower’s most famous feature is its smell. The flower’s stench is foul enough to clear a room. Scientists determined that its central stalk produces smelly compounds, such as those found in rotting flesh, making the name corpse flower genuinely fitting.

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