A rare and rather stinky species of plant has bloomed at Toronto Zoo in Canada, with the zoo capturing the spectacular flowering cycle in a time-lapse video.
The metre-tall plant, amorphophallus titanum, is nicknamed the corpse flower due to its highly pungent aroma.
Posting the time-lapse video to Facebook, the zoo said: “For those of you who couldn’t smell it for yourselves, take a look at our time-lapse video… taken over the course of 17 days.”
For those of you who couldn’t smell it for yourselves, take a look at our time-lapse video of Pablo “Pe-ew” Caso’s bloom cycle taken over the course of 17 days. #WhatsThatSmell #CorpseWatch
Posted by The Toronto Zoo on Tuesday, September 18, 2018
The plant bloomed for the first time at five years old; typically, the species only opens once it is roughly six to 10 years old.
Native to the equatorial rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, chemicals analysed in the corpse flower have also been found in cheese, rotting fish, and sweat.
