Rare Giant ‘corpse Flower’ Blooms at London’s Kew Gardens

The rare “Arum titan” (Amorphophallus titanium) shows off its rare flower at Kew Gardens, London, a spectacle expected to last another two to three days. The species is “the most fragrant flower in the world”, says the Gardens, which explains why the “arum titan” is nicknamed the “corpse flower”, with a “strong odour it gives off to attract pollinators (reminiscent of decomposing flesh)”. The flower can grow “up to three metres tall” and seeing it in bloom is rare, as Kew Gardens points out “it can take up to 12 years for a plant to gather enough energy to produce its first flower, and subsequent blooms occur every few years”. AFP