Gigantic 'corpse flower' blooms in Washington, D.C.

Scientific name: Amorphophallus titanum

Rank: Species

Higher classification: Amorphophallus

The lengthy wait is lastly over for visitors who were hunger for a odor of a gigantic flower that smells oddly like rotting flesh.

This giant rainforest plant well-known as a "corpse flower" for its awful smell began blooming Sunday afternoon at the U.S. Botanic Garden next to the Capitol. Experts had been waiting for its bloom for more than a week and have extended the garden's time for visitors.

Garden officials are expecting for the flower to hit "peak smell" early Monday, and remain open for one or two days.

The flower is formally known as the titan arum. It is found in  the tropical rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, and was discovered in 1878.

Scientists say the flower's odor attracts insects that are in general drawn to rotting flesh.

Some facts about corpse flower:

One little awful smelling flower may not draw a lot of attention but the corpse flower is not a little flower. During its flowering phase, when it is most aromatic, the bloom can be more than eight feet (2.5 meters [m]) tall and ten feet (3 m) wide. That’s a pretty exotic statistic in and of itself but there’s so much more to this spectacular plant.

The titan arum’s corm is the largest in the plant kingdom. Its weight averages 110 pounds (50 kilograms [kg]) but botanists at the Princess of Wales Conservatory at Kew Gardens documented one that tipped the scales at 200 pounds (91 kg) when it was repotted after its dormant phase.