The Adelaide Botanic Garden has decided to open its conservatory until midnight on the first day its rare corpse flower opens.
But do not go rushing for the door just yet, while gardens staff say while they can smell something like a dead possum in the conservatory, they will not know until later on Sunday if the flower is about to open.
Horticultural curator Matt Coulter told 891 ABC there were a few signs suggesting the Amorphophallus titanum was about to flower but it was a waiting game.
"One of the staff members told me this morning that they could actually start to smell something which is a sure sign that it is going to open. So fingers crossed it is going to be today but if not today it will definitely will be tomorrow."
Mr Coulter said the flower looked and smelt its strongest on the first day and would wither by the second afternoon.
At 2:00pm on Sunday, a post on the Adelaide Botanic Garden's Facebook page said the flower was taking its time for a "big reveal".
Staff thought they would have known by then if the flower would open, but according to the post they needed more time to be certain.
"Waiting, waiting! Sorry I'm taking my time for the big reveal, but we'll get there soon!" the post read.
"Will know in a couple of hours whether I'm on for today/tonight, but I'm a better chance to flower tomorrow."
More than 5,000 people visited the Mount Lofty Gardens last month to see the city's first ever corpse flower plant bloom.
He described the plant as fascinating and said most of its growth had occurred in the past eight weeks.
"It's quite an interesting smell," Mr Coulter said.
"It's not just one smell that stagnates. What the plant does is pulses the smell out, so every 10 or 20 seconds it actually pushes a smell out in a pulse ... it has a strong ammonia, rotting sort of fish sort of smell."
The gardens will provide the public an update on its Facebook page when the flower opens.
Source: abc.net.au
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