Visitors to Leiden, Netherlands were holding their nose as a rare rancid-smelling flower - dubbed the 'penis plant' for its phallic shape - bloomed for the first time in nearly 25 years at the city's celebrated botanical gardens.
Native to the tropical rainforests of Indonesia, Amorphophallus decus-silvae is a rarity in any collection because it requires such a hot and humid environment.
But one started flowering October 22 at the Hortus botanicus Leiden, one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world, and fully bloomed later this week.
On Friday, garden volunteer Roos Kocken posted a TikTok, saying with a giggle that the penis plant was now 'all shriveled up' and workers had sliced it open so visitors could see inside.
'It's still beautiful, actually,' she added.
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An Amorphophallus decus-silvae, nicknamed the 'penis plant' for its phallic shape, started flowering last week at the Hortus botanicus in Leiden, Netherlands, one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world
Botanists at the Hortus, which dates back to 1638, believe this is only the third time the species has ever flowered in Europe, according to a release.
The last time a similar plant flowered at the Leiden Hortus was in 1997.
Garden volunteer Rudmer Postma has been tending to this particular plant, which is about six years old.
A bud was first spotted in mid-September, and within six weeks it grew to nearly two feet tall, with a narrow 6 foot, 7 inch stem.
In addition to its suggestive shape and large size, the plant is know for the noxious rotting-flesh odor it emits as it starts to blossom
After that, it was a waiting game.
Unfortunately, the giveaway that the flower has started blossoming is a fetid scent that's so similar to rotting flesh it attracts flies.
'It didn't smell very bad yet, but got more intense in the afternoon,' Kocken said in a TikTok video.
This is the first, female phase of the blooming process: The warming up of the spadix, or white penis-like part of the plant's flower head, known as an inflorescence.
That warming triggers the distinct and distasteful odor.
When flies and other pollinators come courting, the Amorphophallus shifts to its male phase, producing pollen that coats the insects that land on it.
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