By Janika Ter Ellen
Wellington's Botanic Gardens has a new attraction, which oddly enough is repellent.
It is a rare flower called the Devil's Tongue.
It looks unusual, but unassuming enough until, that is, you lean in for a whiff.
But then the Devil's Tongue is not trying to lure people, it is after flies.
“It's attracting those insects that go to rotten carcasses for pollination,” says Leanne Killalea, from the Wellington Botanic Gardens.
It might smell delicious to flies, but many find it a putrid mix of off milk and silage.
The plants are rare in New Zealand, only growing naturally in very hot and humid climates like Asia - and they take years to flower.
“We really only get one of these things every seven years, so it's just a gem,” says Ms Killalea.
The plant will be on display at Wellington's Botanic Gardens for the next week or so before it withers.
But not everyone is so keen on it.
And it is absolutely not recommended as a house plant.
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