Rare and smelly corpse flower blooms in Pennsylvania

July 15 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania botanical garden is celebrating the blooming of a rare and particularly pungent plant known as a corpse flower.

Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Chester County, said its corpse flower -- scientifically known as Amorphophallus titanum -- has begun to bloom and release its signature odor, which has often been compared to the scent of rotting meat.

Corpse flowers, among the largest and rarest flowering plants in the world, can go several years in between blooms and give off their foul stench to attract pollinating insects.

Longwood Gardens said tickets to see the flower during its bloom, which only lasts for 24-48 hours, quickly sold out, but plant enthusiasts can still see -- albeit not smell -- the plant on the garden's "Stink Cam" livestream.

Longwood said it is the first time a corpse flower, which is native to Indonesian rain forests, has bloomed at the facility since 1967.