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Amorphophallus titanum, discovered in 1878 by Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari, is native to Sumatra, Indonesia
Its inflorescence consists of a fleshy yellow-green central spike called the spadix that stands over 2m tall, enrobed by a ruffled leaf-like cape called the spathe. Nestled at the base of the spadix, several hundred tiny female flowers grow in a ring below a band of thousands of their tiny male counterparts. During the bloom, the spathe unfurls to reveal a crimson, velvety inner surface and the putrid smell fills the air.
A. titanum is not a self-pollinator, it can only reproduce if beetles and other insects shuttle pollen between blooming individuals. The spadix and spathe act together as a kind of olfactory loudhailer, luring pollinators from far and wide.
Chemical analyses of the scent have identified compounds including isovaleric acid (cheese, sweat), dimethyl disulphide (garlic), dimethyl trisulphide (decomposing meat), indole (faeces) and trimethylamine (rotting fish)