![](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/211027160820-penis-plant-amorphophallus-decus-silvae-super-tease.jpg)
The six-year-old penis plant — the scientific name for which is Amorphophallus decus-silvae — was cultivated by garden volunteer Rudmer Postma, according to a news release. Garden personnel first noticed the flower bud in mid-September, and in just over a month, the bud has become about half a meter (over 3 feet) tall, with the narrow stem reaching up to 2 meters (over 6 feet) high.
“Few botanical gardens have Amorphophallus decus-silvae in their collection, making the flowering of the plant particularly rare,” the release noted.
Native to tropical rainforest-rich Indonesia, the penis plant requires a very warm and humid growing environment and is therefore difficult to grow in Europe. But its terrible, pungent odor — akin to rotting flesh — helps gardeners predict when the plant will flower, which according to the release, happens in two stages: the female bloom phase and the male bloom phase.
During the female bloom phase, the white, phallus-shaped part of the flower called the spadix heats up and emits the stench.
For larger Amorphophallus plants, to have many years between blooms isn’t unusual, said Susan Pell, the deputy executive director of the US Botanical Garden.
Amorphophallus plants’ blooms emerge from their underground structures called corms, which are like the underground part of tree trunks, she explained.
“That bloom is just using up all of the energy that’s been stored in that corm. And so in order to bloom again, that corm has to produce a series of leaves over … somewhere between probably three and 10 or 12 years in order to get enough energy built back up in the corm to support a bloom, which really occupies that corm for more than a year,” Pell added.