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Flower With Scent Of Dead Body Set For Rare Bloom

SAN MARINO (AP) — A gigantic flower that smells like rotting flesh will soon bloom at botanical gardens near Los Angeles.

The "corpse flower" is rare not just for its pungent odor, but also because it blooms so infrequently.

The Pasadena Star-News reports that officials at the Huntington gardens in San Marino expect that within the week, their flower will fully unfurl, reaching about 5 feet.

According to the Huntington, there have been only about 20 corpse flower blooms in the United States. The plant is native to Indonesia.

(© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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