Rare orchid that smells like rotting meat comes into bloom at Cambridge University Botanic Gardens

• Hannah Pettifer braved the botanic garden to report for ITV News Anglia

Visitors to a botanic garden might be able to smell its latest attraction before they see it.

The sickening scent of the rare bulbophyllum fletcherianum has spread through the 100-year-old glasshouse of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, after the plant came into bloom for the first time.

With a smell likened to that of rotting meat, it's one of the rarest orchids they've ever grown.

Kathryn Bray, senior horticulturalist at the Botanic Garden, said the flower mimicked the texture of meat and produced its unusual smell to attract pollinators, such as beetles, blowflies and carrion flies.

"A lot of plants have really interesting pollination strategies, and what this particular plant and its allies in the genus bulbophyllum will do is they have these flowers which effectively look like rotting meat... and they smell really, really bad," she said.

"We actually noticed that this had flowered before we saw the flower, because we walked into the nursery and you just get hit with this wave of stench."

The plants do not usually bloom under cultivation, making this event even more special, said experts.

Known as the tongue orchid, the species is native to southern New Guinea, where it grows on rocky outcrops and riversides.

It flourishes in humid environments, where its leaves can grow to around six feet long, making it one of the largest species of orchid in the world.

The Botanic Garden estimates that its orchid is about 10 years old, and it is aiming to get it flowering every year.

However, anyone keen to experience its unusual aroma, will have to move quickly, as it's only expected to be in bloom for another two weeks.

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