An endangered tropical plant that emits the stench of a rotting corpse during its rare blooms has begun to flower in a greenhouse in Sydney.

A rare plant known as the corpse flower bloomed in Sydney on Friday for the first time in more than a decade, emitting an odour likened to rotting flesh and delighting thousands who queued for a whiff.

The rare unfurling of an endangered plant that emits the smell of decaying flesh drew hundreds of devoted fans to a greenhouse in Sydney yesterday. Tall, pointed and smelly, the corpse flower is scientifically known as amorphophallus titanum – or bunga bangkai in Indonesia,