Smelly orchid blooms for second time in 30 years

Forget the sweet scent of roses – Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens were suffused with an unusual stench today, as the gardens’ foul-smelling tongue orchid flowered for the second time in 30 years.

With its finger-like red flowers among yard-long, tongue-shaped leaves, the Papua New Guinea native orchid is one of a several pants with flowers that smell like rotting meat to attract flies, which help its pollination.