8 of the world’s smelliest plants, from corpse flowers to skunk cabbages
The worst offenders can give off the stink of rotting flesh, dead horses, roadkill skunk and even poo. The problem is, flowers emit smells to attract pollinating insects, but that includes flies which can’t tell a sweet perfume from a rotten egg.
So which smelly plants should you avoid?
Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum)
This stinky candidate is also known as the corpse flower because it smells of rotting flesh thanks to its enormous flower spikes which can heat up to 36 degrees and emit the stench of a dead animal. It grows to three metres in height and its massive crimson flower spans a staggering three metres. You won’t find it in the average British garden though, as it prefers the rainforests of Sumatra as its natural habitat. You can admire it in the exotic sections of botanical gardens such as the Eden Project in Cornwall and at Kew in West London.
Click here to read about all other eight foul-smelling plants at home.bt.com.