THOUSANDS of visitors are expected to travel the length of Britain to take a whiff of a stinking flower when it blossoms in Scotland for the first time.
The corpse flower will provide a brief but pungent presence for the first time in Scotland after 12 years of cultivation at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh sometime in the coming days.
The Titan Arum is described as one of the world's biggest and smelliest flowers, its odour of rotting flesh used to attract insects for pollinating.
The bud appeared several weeks ago and it has been sprouting a few inches a day.
But it took until Friday before experts could be sure it was a flower and not just a leaf.
Now excitement is mounting for the final unfurling which happens over about four days in total, with the flower blossoming for about 48 hours.
Sadie Barber, Senior Horticulturist said that visitors would have a few minutes with the plant to appreciate the odour and take a picture.
The garden is collaborating with Basel University in Switzerland, which had a plant flower in 2011 for the first time in 75 years.
It could take between one to two weeks for the Edinburgh plant to be in full flower.
She said: "As far as I can see, the longest it has taken a cultivated flower to bloom is 45 days. We are at day 32, so thinking it will be near the end of the month."
It is unclear how visitors many will descend for during the final process.
A spokeswoman for the garden said when it is in full bloom, and at its smelliest, the gates will be open from 9am until 9pm.
She said: "Visit our website for details and to check its progress."
The garden is already getting enquiries from Devon and the north of Scotland.
Basel had 25,000 over 10 days, 15,000 of that was in day, when it was open 24 hours.
Staff across all divisions in the garden including horticulture, science, enterprise and corporate services are volunteering to "come in and man the pumps" to allow the gates to stay open longer over the critical period and give access to as many people as possible.
The corpse flower is native to the rainforest in western Sumatra, Indonesia, and lives on steep hillsides.
The plant corm was gifted to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 2003 by Hortus Botanicus in Leiden, Netherlands and is the heaviest corm recorded at 338 lb (153.9kgs).
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