Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe MADISON, Wis., July 16 (UPI) -- Botanists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say a rare and stinky Indonesian plant known as the corpse flower will be in full bloom within two weeks. Titan arum, as the plant is scientifically named, only produces flowers three or four times in its typical 40-year lifespan. The plant grows in the rainforest of Sumatra and gets its nickname -- corpse flower -- from the sickly, sweet aroma of its bloom, which smells like rotting meat. Advertisement "We have three and we got all three to bloom," Mohammad Fayyaz, director of greenhouses and gardens at Birge Hall, told the Wisconsin State Journal. The plants, which resemble a green corn-on-the-cob, will double in size to about 4 feet as they flower. They grow up to 20 feet in the wild. Visitors are heading to the greenhouse to see the plants and get a whiff of their putrid scent. More than 30,000 people visited when they bloomed in 2001 and 2002. The university's expanded 1.2 acre botanical garden is expected to open this summer after a renovation.
