Brooklyn botanists are waiting with bated breath for the “world’s stinkiest” flower to bloom – which could turn the borough’s Botanic Garden into a Little Shop of Nausea.
“It’s pretty bad,” said Scot Medbury, president of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, of the infamous and rare amorphophallus titanium – a k a “the corpse flower.”
But Medbury and other botany buffs are hailing the much-anticipated blossoming as a kind of aromatic “Haley’s Comet.”
“It’s very rare,” Medbury said.
In fact, he said, the staff has been nurturing the plant for a decade and nicknamed the flower – which now stands more than 5 feet tall – “Baby.”
The plant, which is native to the tropics, often doesn’t bloom into a flower. The last time it happened in New York was 1939. The best estimate is that it will bloom on Friday – although it could be anytime – and the stench will emanate for about eight hours.