The corpse flower has come alive! The huge, rare and famously putrid Indonesian flower is blooming for one day, spreading its stench across the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The university said the flower "smells like a cross between rotting flesh and Limburger cheese" and the greenhouse where it is unfurling its blossom is open to members of the public who want to take a whiff.

The flower uses flies instead of bees to spread its sticky pollen. It produces two sulphurous chemicals within its leaves that the flies find attractive. The plant at UCSB is 4ft and growing fast.