The Corpse Flower at the New York Botanical Garden Is Finally Blooming

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A corpse flower is about to bloom at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx.

The incredible plant, scientifically speaking the Amorphophallus titanium, can grow up to eight-feet tall, and it’s not known for its looks. The corpse flower’s blossoms smell like rotting flesh, which is how it earned its colloquial name.

The plant only blooms sporadically, opening into a blood-red flower that lasts a day or two. The garden is livestreaming the bloom:

Crowds flocked to the Bronx this weekend in hopes of catching the rare bloom, but the heat wave that hit the city didn’t encourage the plant to flower.

“After a weekend of anticipation, the high temperatures in New York did not impact the Corpse Flower's growth as our experts anticipated,” a statement on the NYBG website explained. “The plant is still progressing, but its bloom remains difficult to predict.”

They are posting the plant’s progress online.

Corpse flowers have been a favorite for both visitors and botanists and are featured at the Denver Gardens, the Indiana University campus, the Huntington Library, and the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C., who may be about to have a corpse flower bloom of their own.

If you can’t make it to the New York Botanical Garden in time to witness the phenomenon first hand, there is a camera streaming a live feed of the bud, smell-o-vision not included.

The corpse flower is native to the island of Sumatra, where it thrives in the warm, humid climate. Some tour groups offer trips to see—and smell—the blooms.