Thousands watch and wait for rare stinky flower to bloom

Luckily smell-o-vision hasn't been invented yet!

Imagine a plant so stinky that the smell is compared to wet socks, rotten meat and hot cat food. Ewww!

The corpse flower is an endangered plant that blooms just once every few years for only 24 hours.

One such plant living in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens is set to bloom and has been called "Putricia" due to its putrid smell.

The foul bloom has stirred up a lot of attention with thousands of people across the world watching a livestream ahead of its big moment.

It will soon be a case of "smell you later", as the plant won't bloom again for another few years

What is a corpse flower?

Its proper name is the titan arum.

The plant can grow up to 3m tall, and is usually found in the rainforests of Sumatra in Indonesia.

It first flowered outside of Sumatra in 1889 in Kew Gardens in London.

The plant has the world's largest flowering structure, as it can grow up to 3m and contains several hundred flowers.

It is endangered in the wild due to deforestation.

People travel from miles around to get a whiff

What will happen when the corpse flower blooms?

Currently there's not much to see.

Putricia stands tall in front of a brown curtain behind a red velvet rope and occasionally a visitor can be seen snapping a selfie.

Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens have said it is "hard to predict exactly when" it will happen, but that has not stopped the thousands gathered online.

Once she blooms, viewers can expect to see the plant unfold a vibrant maroon or crimson skirt, known as a spathe, around the large spike in the middle of the plant that's called the spadix.

Say cheese! But the flower will smell much worse than that!

People in the livestream's chat have developed their own sayings, with thousands commenting "WWTF", or "We Watch the Flower".

Other popular abbreviations are WDNRP (We Do Not Rush Putricia) and BBTB (Blessed Be The Bloom).

Putricia is one of several titan arums in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens, which last saw one bloom 15 years ago.

There have been other corpse flower blooms across Australia and London in recent years, each time attracting thousands of curious visitors keen on having a whiff. Scent-sational!