World's largest flower, Titan Arum, blooms for first time in five years

A Titan Arum, believed to be the world’s largest flower, has bloomed in Tokyo for the first time in five years.

The two-metre high herbaceous plant has attracted hundreds of visitors to the city’s Jindai Botanical Garden this week forcing it to extend its opening hours.

The flower blooms rarely (maybe three or four times in its 40-year life) and that too only for two or three days, which is why experts believe Friday will be the last day visitors will be able to admire it.

Also called the corpse flower, the Titan Arum has an overpowering smell resembling rotting meat that attracts pollinating insects.

The plant can grow to a height of three metres and is native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It has been classified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to threat from widespread deforestation.