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After six years of coaxing, the gardners at London's Kew Gardens have gotten the biggest, stinkiest flower in the world to bloom -- for three days.
The 75 kilogram (165-pound) titan arum, the rotten-smelling giant of the plant kingdom, "unfurled its single stinky flower after beginning a dramatic growth spurt last week," a Kew spokeswoman said.Link Discuss (Thanks, Songdog!)"Last week the yellow shoot began to swell dramatically. It has now reached a height of almost three meters," she added.
"The huge phallic flower has now unfurled to reveal its blood-red interior ... and the plant has begun to heat up, giving off a pungent aroma described as a mixture of rotting flesh and excrement."
I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.