Thieves steal most foul-smelling plant in the world which could bloom at any time

Police in Germany are searching for criminals which dug up the world’s stinkiest plant from local botanical gardens.

Workers at Rombergpark Botanical Garden in Dortmund, Germany, discovered the titan arum plant, named ‘David’, vanished during a routine inspection.

The plant, which weighs around 60 pounds, is famous for its stinky bloom, which only appears for a few days once every few years.

Also known as the ‘corpse flower’, is one of the world’s rarest plants – and the smelliest. Only around 1,000 specimens are left in the wild and they bloom for just 24 hours every few years, emitting a disgusting smell described as a cross between ‘wet socks, hot cat food, or rotting possum flesh.’

David last bloomed in 2021, meaning it’s overdue for a bloom – these thieves could have a stinky problem on their hands.

When the plant last bloomed, thousands of people travelled to Dortmund to get a whiff of it and see the rare occasion.

In a statement, an employee said: ‘The theft of David is a blow to us.

‘Many Dortmund residents have been waiting for the next bloom. We hope the thieves regret their decision and return David.’

Earlier this year, one particular plant, nicknamed ‘Putricia’, was preparing to bloom at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens, where countless visitors turned up to get a whiff.

John Siemon, the director of horticulture and living collections at the gardens, likened the spectacle to Sydney’s 2000 Olympics, noting, ‘We’ve had 15,000 people come through the gates before the flower even opened.’

‘This specimen is around 10 years old. We acquired it from our colleagues at the LA Botanic Garden when it was three, and we’ve been nurturing it for the last seven years,’ he told the BBC’s Newsday programme.

One of the rare plants bloomed in the UK last year in Kew Gardens for just over 24 hours, with visitors rushing to get a whiff.

The mystery of why the corpse flower smells so bad was finally solved by a research team in Dartmouth in 2024.

By studying the blooms of a 21-year-old corpse flower named Morphy housed at Dartmouth’s Life Sciences Greenhouse they found the flower’s stench comes from the heating of one part of the plant.

Then the flower begins to release a cocktail of chemicals including dimethyl trisulfide, dimethyl disulfide, trimethylamine, isovaleric acid, and indole.

In case you’re wondering what these smell like, they are cheese, garlic, rotting fish, sweaty socks, and faeces, respectively.

But that’s not all. The researchers also revealed that the flower also emits a chemical called putrescine. This is also released by rotting dead bodies.

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