Visitors to tropical botanic gardens are holding their breaths - and their noses - waiting for the final flowering of a rare plant.

Titan arum, better known colloquially as the corpse flower, is a large plant native to the limestone rainforests of western Sumatra, Indonesia.

The Cairns Botanic Gardens in far north Queensland holds 15 examples, three of which have opened between December 30 and New Year’s Eve.

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Meanwhile, a fourth is yet to unfurl, despite gardens staff giving it “a stern talking to” in the face of national media attention and thousands of visitors.

The plant then grows a single new leaf, which eventually produces another florescence - a process that repeats over the life cycle of the plant.

Titan arum is classified as endangered by the International Union of Conservation of Nature due to deforestation and over-collection.

A corpse flower is set to flower in Cairns. Credit: Cairns Botanic Gardens

Visitors are waiting with bated breath for the corpse flower to bloom. Credit: Cairns Botanic Gardens

Less than 1000 plants are thought to remain in the wild, with specimens in botanic gardens worldwide considered crucial to maintaining ongoing genetic diversity.

The most notorious example of Titan arum at Cairns Botanic Gardens goes by the name of Hannibal, which last flowered in February 2025.

Other corpse flowers held in botanic gardens around the world have also been honoured with their own names including Putricia, Pepe Le Pew, Dame Judi Stench and Fester.