People queue to catch whiff of corpse flower plant in Dunedin

Checking out the corpse plant at the Dunedin Botanic Gardens on Saturday were Suliya (5, left) and Sarina (7) Li, of Dunedin. Photo / Christine O'Connor

People queued up at the gates of the Dunedin Botanic Garden to take a whiff of the city's famously stinky plant.

About 50 people were already lined up at 8am on Saturday to check out the corpse plant (Amorphophallus titanum), which began to flower on Friday for just the second time.

It first bloomed in 2018.

Thousands of people turned out to see the plant, whose odour has been compared to that of rotting flesh, on Friday, and thousands more had been expected over the weekend.

Among Saturday's sightseers were Karolle Gjaltema and her husband Hadyn Olsen, who were visiting Dunedin from Nelson.

The corpse flower at Dunedin Botanical Gardens. Photo / Supplied

Olsen said they read about the plant online and decided to check it out.

"It's almost otherworldly, like a space plant."

The plant is on display in the Winter Garden Glasshouse. Viewing hours have returned to normal from today from 10am-4pm.

The plant was given to the botanic garden in 2008.