A smell is about to hang over the Huntington Library's Botanical Gardens, but it's not going to be one like victory. Rather, it's none other than Amorphophallus titanum — better known as the “corpse flower.” This particular specimen is known as Son of Stinky, whose parent had blossomed in 1999 and 2002 to great acclaim — these Sumatra transplants have flowered only about 50 times in the United States. The flower  typically grows several inches a day and when it blooms emits a powerful odor akin to rotting flesh in order to draw pollinating insects.

Son of Stinky as of June 9, 9:45 a.m.

Today Son of Stinky stands at five-feet four-inches, having grown five inches over the past 24 hours, and is predicted to bloom for a day or two sometime between Wednesday and next Monday. Its malodorous flowering is expected to draw horticulturists, ghouls and the merely curious — like flies.

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