Commonly known as ‘the corpse plant’ on account of the hideous smell it gives off when in bloom, the amorphophallus titanium first fell into the Botanical Garden’s ownership a decade ago when it arrived from the exotic island of Sumatra.

Ogród Botaniczny Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego / Piotr Dobrzyński

Since then, however, it has stubbornly refused to bloom and came close to dying after a TV crew mistakenly left it outside overnight. Much TLC followed to nurse the plant back to health, with the methods even going so far as to include a ritual rain dance performed around it.

Ogród Botaniczny Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego / Piotr Dobrzyński

Jokingly referred to by staff as “a giant weirdo”, the plant started stirring into action in the early hours of Sunday morning. Quickly, news spread attracting huge queues of curiosity seekers to the Botanical Garden.

Ogród Botaniczny Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego / Piotr Dobrzyński

Blooming only for a few days, and capable of reaching a height of two-meters (and 1.5 meters in width), the event was broadcast live on social media by the garden with frequent updates also posted to keep the public abreast.

Ogród Botaniczny Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego / Piotr Dobrzyński

For their part, the public did not disappoint with hundreds of people descending on the gardens until as late as 3 a.m. Today, the University-owned institution has pledged to keep their doors open to 10 p.m.

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