Corpse flower: World's smelliest flower blooms in San Diego

The world's smelliest flower has bloomed in San Diego's Botanical Garden in the US.

The mighty 'Titan arum' is nick-named the 'corpse-flower' because it smells a bit like rotting meat, dog poo or sick - yuck!

"They smell awful," said Ari Novy, the president and CEO of the San Diego Botanic Garden.

"It smells a lot like you saved up your dirty laundry clothes for a couple of weeks. You put them in a garbage bag. You also threw in some dead fish and some rotting hamburgers. And then you put that all by the side of the road somewhere really warm." he said.

The stinky plant has attracted thousands of visitors to the gardens, as the flower only blooms for around 48 hours.

Why does it smell so bad?

"We tend to think of flowers as smelling good to attract pollinators, but actually a lot of insects like what we think of as bad smells," said Ari Novy. "And so this particular flower, it has evolved to smell terrible."

The plant's scent is designed to attract creatures like beetles and flies from miles away to help pollinate the plant.

The smell is strongest during the night, when the wind drops and the air is still - allowing the scent to travel much further.

The gardeners who work at the Botanical Garden said they experienced sore throats, stingy eyes and a metallic taste in their mouths because of the chemical reaction that makes the plant's smell.

The plant is listed as 'endangered' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN) Red List, and there are thought to be fewer than 1,000 left in the wild.

What do you think about the stinky slow bloomer? Let us know in the comments.