VISITORS to Oxford's Botanic Garden did well not to run away from the pungent smell of one of the world's smelliest plants this week.

The corpse plant is a very large and rare flower and only blooms once a year for a short time.

While it is in bloom, the flower emits a strong odour similar to rotting meat or, quite aptly, a decaying corpse.

And three-year-old Laurie Quantrell, from Oxford, couldn't help but pinch his nose to keep away the stench when he visited on Monday(feb15).

He said: "It's big and a bit stinky."

Botanical Horticulturalist Vanessa Newman said the reason the plant has such a strong smell is to attract the flies which pollinate it.

She said: "The plant is a tropical one and it attracts flies or beetles to pollinate it by smelling like dead flesh or like poo.

"We only have the plant out once a year because it doesn't bloom for very long so right now is a great chance for people to come and see it."

The Botanic Garden is also running an exhibition until the end of March which allows visitors to discover more about the people and plants behind Fairtrade crops.