The air was thick with both anticipation and a pungent smell as visitors flocked to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden last weekend for a chance to see a rare flower bloom. The Amorphophallus gigas—a cousin to Amorphophallus titanum,

A foul-smelling corpse flower is blooming at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The BBG said around New Year's Eve, a gardener noticed the plant's inflorescence was starting to emerge and moved it into the garden's Aquatic House.

The bloom has attracted up to 20,000 admirers who filed past, hoping to experience the smell for themselves, with some attendees describing it as "like death," "like poop," and "like sewage water."