She looks like a ‘deformed penis’ and smells like a dead possum: Sydney goes wild for its blooming corpse flower

A corpse flower known as Putricia blooms at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden. Photograph: Caitlin Cassidy/The Guardian

In Sydney, word is spreading: a rare endangered plant named after a deformed penis is beginning to unfurl.

Outside Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden greenhouse on Thursday, a diverse crowd of hundreds has formed. International tourists wait expectantly by families and young, trendy couples. Babies are everywhere.