For botanists, it doesn't get more exciting than this - after 75 years, the Titan Arum plant has unfurled its leaves and is in full bloom。

　　For curious crowds who gathered, they perhaps realised that a once-in-a-lifetime look is more than enough - thanks to its pungent odour of rotting flesh。

　　The flower, nicknamed 'Corpse flower', bloomed late on Good Friday at the University of Basel, Switzerland and is expected to remain open until Easter Sunday。

　　The eight foot plant, which is indigenous to Sumatra's rainforests in Indonesia, has the largest unbranched shoot in the world. On average, they bloom once in a decade。

　　Titan Arum is coveted by collectors and plant enthusiasts around the world because of its strange blooming patterns。

　　It produces umbrella-sized petals which open to a diameter of three to four feet。

　　Its distinctive smell can be detected from half a mile away. The odour, which is usually strongest at night, is meant to attract pollinators such as carrion beetles and flesh flies。

　　Twelve of them are housed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the Princess of Wales Conservatory among hundreds of other tropical plants。

　　When the plants are ready to pollinate, the stem heats up to release a pungent smell, which lasts for about three days。

　　The largest Arum at Kew gardens weighs 200lb and grows at a staggering rate of a quarter of an inch an hour。

　　It guzzles liquid fertiliser and potassium each week to keep up its strength while bedded in roomy surroundings。

　　Sir David Attenborough, who invented the name Titan Arum, was the first to capture it flowering on film for his BBC TV series The Private Life of Plants。

　　He dropped the plant’s original name – Amorphophallus – perhaps because of the reference to male genitalia。

　　没有什么能比这个消息更让植物学家感到兴奋了。在历经75年的生长以后，这株泰坦魔芋终于绽放出花朵。

　　好奇的围观者可能意识到这种景观终生难见一次，因为这种花散发出的腐肉般的刺鼻气味实在独特。

　　在复活节前的星期五(耶稣受难日)那天夜里，这种绰号叫作“尸花”的花在瑞士巴塞尔大学盛放，预计花期将持续到复活节(周日)。

　　这一高达八英尺的泰坦魔芋是印尼苏门答腊岛热带雨林的本土植物，拥有全世界最大的不分枝巨芽。这种植物一般十年才开一次花。

　　泰坦魔芋的开花方式很奇特，因而世界各地的收藏家和植物爱好者都渴望收藏这种植物。

　　泰坦魔芋花的花瓣有伞那么大，盛开后整朵花的直径达三至四英尺。

　　泰坦魔芋花独特的气味在半英里外就能闻到。这种花的臭味通常在夜间最浓烈，可以吸引腐尸甲虫和肉蝇这样的传粉昆虫。

　　威尔士王妃馆内的英国皇家植物园(邱园)收藏的数百种热带植物中，就有12株泰坦魔芋。

　　在泰坦魔芋将要授粉时，花茎会发热并散发出一股刺鼻气味，这种气味大约会持续三天。

　　邱园中最大的泰坦魔芋重达200磅，而且生长速度惊人，每小时长0.25英寸。

　　在宽敞的环境中，这种植物每周会大量吸收液态肥料和钾来维持生命力。

　　把这种植物命名为“泰坦魔芋”的戴维•阿滕伯勒爵士是首个拍到它开花景观的人。当时他正在拍摄BBC电视剧《植物私生活》。

　　他舍弃了该植物的原名Amorphophallus，原因可能是这一名字有男性生殖器的意思。