ENCINITAS, California (AP) -- Visitors say it smells like rotten crabs, eggs left in the sun or road kill. To greenhouse owners, it's the sweet smell of success.
The world's biggest and stinkiest flower is in full, er, bloom in Southern California -- something that's happened only 15 or so times in the United States.
The 41/2-foot-tall amorphophallus titanum, or titan arum, considered by some the plant kingdom's greatest superstar, is drawing crowds to Quail Botanical Gardens curious to smell the odor that gives the plant its unappetizing nickname -- the corpse flower.
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I guess some people need that 5 second fame burst.
Masher
