History in Europe:
This is only the third time so far that the plant "Giant Loop", known as the corpse flower, is a flower on the cold continent in the botanical garden of the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.
The plant originates from the Indonesian island of Java, it needs a lot of heat and blooms very slowly, sometimes taking even seven years for the plant to bloom.
Because of the problematic conditions in Europe, even inside a greenhouse, its last flowering was documented in the university botanical garden in 1997. The special plant was named the "corpse flower" because of the very bad smell it spreads.
The scent is intended to attract flies and other carnivorous insects to which the plant's powder adheres - causing the plant to fertilize itself.
The "corpse flower" in full bloom in the botanical garden of the University of Leiden in the Netherlands., Photo: API
A botanist from the botanical garden who was asked to describe the smell of the plant said that "it is a combination of a stinking baby diaper, a body and some touches of methanol".
The person who treated this rare plant in the Netherlands is Rodmar Posthema, who said that "we treated the plant very carefully and it started to bloom in mid-September when it is currently in full bloom. This is the first bloom of this plant that we have been treating for six years."
Given the rarity of the plant, Leiden University estimates that tens of thousands of tourists will come to be photographed and see the rare flower in the coming weeks.
One of the reasons for the influx is the fact that outside of Java - only three peanut gardens in the US have the plant in their possession. For Europeans this is the only option to see the rare and stinking species at its peak.