The world's tallest -- and smelliest -- flower has bloomed, reaching a height of 2.94 metres, 18 centimetres more than the previous record for the species, the Stuttgart botanical garden said Friday.

The Titan Arum, or Amorphophallus Titanum, nicknamed "corpse flower" because of its putrid（腐烂的）stench（臭气）, blooms rarely and briefly.

Garden staff have nicknamed the purple flower "Diva" and are charting（制图）its life on their web site, www.wilhelma.de.

But those keen（渴望的）for a glimpse（一见）, or a whiff（一闻）, in person must be quick: just 24 hours after the 11 year-old plant produced its first flower, the bloom began to wilt（枯萎）Friday.

The Titan Arum was discovered in 1878 in its sole indigenous（本土的） habitat, the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and grows in cultivation（培养）in only a handful of places around the world.

Its scent has been likened to rotting fish（臭鱼）or animal flesh.

"The smell is crucial（至关紧要）to its survival in its natural habitat because it attracts pollinating（授粉）carrion（腐肉的）beetles and flesh flies," said botanist Franziska Lo-Kockel.

Lo-Kockel brought the bulb of the plant, weighing some 40 kilograms, from the University of Frankfurt to the Stuttgart gardens 11 years ago.

Note:

这个居然还被称为花的东西，高2.94米，同时也是也是世界上最臭的花。据路透社报道，这株世界上最高的花近日在斯图加特植物园开放，它刚刚创下的花高纪录比原纪录高了18厘米。

为了这短暂的24小时花期，它已经生长了11年，加之它奇臭无比，青春短暂，有人为其名曰“尸花”（corpse flower）——它原名大花草（Rafflesia arnoldii），是一种原产马来群岛热带雨林中的肉质寄生植物。