Public eagerly awaits foul smell of garden's 'corpse flower'

Washington botany enthusiasts are salivating over the possibility that an exotic plant is about to finally bloom and produce a huge and memorable stink.

The U.S. Botanic Garden wrote on its Facebook page Monday that botanists are waiting with "bated breath" to see if the garden's 6-year-old "corpse flower" will open for its first time.

The plant, also known as the titan arum, is native to Sumatra's equatorial rain forests and emits an odor similar to rotting flesh while it's briefly in bloom.

It was expected to reach peak bloom sometime between Saturday and Tuesday. As of late Monday, it had stayed close.

The bloom at its peak only lasts about 24 to 36 hours.

A corpse flower at the New York Botanical Garden in New York City bloomed last week.