“What it smells like is a fish that went bad in the refrigerator,” said pathologist Judy Melinek, formerly of the San Francisco medical examiner’s office. She dropped by to sniff as a professional courtesy, as docs like to say. “A dead fish is a corpse, I suppose,” Melinek said. “But this is not the smell of a human corpse. It’s missing five essential esters.” [...] She also said the flower smells like sweaty socks, although she acknowledged she has not smelled 3,000 of those and is less of an expert.

— A pathologist investigates the odor of a titan arum, aka corpse flower. Read more at Corpse flower definitely smells like a dead body, but not a human one, expert says at the San Francisco Chronicle.

Whenever this rare plant blooms, it causes a sensation. Maybe it’s because it is known for having one of the largest inflorescences in the world, but more likely it’s because of the putrid odor it releases during its brief 24- to 36-hour peak, like the smell of rotting flesh, the reason the plant is more popularly known as the corpse flower.

— There's a bloom watch on (including a live cam) at the New York Botanic Garden, where their titan arum is on display and expected to bloom at any time.