Would you stand in line to smell the world’s ugliest flower?

This is officially the year of Putricia, the dirtiest flower in the world. Thousands of people have flocked to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia to see and smell the rare blooms of the stinky plant, also known as the corpse flower.

It is blooming the fifth is documented At the Royal Botanic Gardens and the first event since 2010. It is estimated that around 20,000 people visited the garden in the hope of catching the rare phenomenon, while hundreds of thousands watched the Putricia live. Such blooms only last for 24 hours, and Putricia’s moment in the spotlight has sadly come to an end.

Putricia – a mixture of rotten and Patricia – belongs to the species Amorphophallus titanumA plant that grows in the tropical forests of Sumatra, Indonesia. As its nickname suggests, the plant emits a strong odor comparable to rotting flesh when it’s time to flower. This ugliness is not just a cruel trick of nature; This is actually a very clever strategy to attract rot-loving critters, such as carrion beetles and flies, to serve as arbitrary pollinators for the plant. The exact nature of the smell can vary from person to person, but some have likened it to wet socks or hot cat food.

Researchers at the Royal Botanic Gardens first noticed In late December, they created a special display of Putricia for signs of impending flowering and a fragrant debut for fans in mid-January. There are other plants that emit a similar stench, but the Putricia species may be the most eye and nose irritant. In full bloom, the plant can stand up to nine feet tall.

“The fact that it’s so big, it’s so long-lasting (to bloom) and it smells so bad really attracts people to it,” said Brett Summerell, chief scientist at Sydney Botanic Gardens. he said Reuters.

Putricia’s bloom ended on Thursday in Sydney (early Friday morning on the east coast of the US). But don’t be afraid. While corpse flower blooms are relatively rare, they are not a once-in-a-lifetime event. These flowers tend to bloom every few years, and there are many botanical gardens that host their fragrant plants.

Last year, the Botanical Garden in Washington, DC I saw two Amorphophallus titanum for example, it blooms. And just yesterday, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York announced the impending flowering of a related and even rarer species of corpse flower, Amorphophallus gigas –Now one that I personally hope to smell.