Putricia's "sister" has started to open up, with expectations it will be in full bloom overnight. (ABC News: Chantelle Al-Khouri)
In short:
A second corpse flower has begun to bloom at Sydney's Botanic Gardens.
The plant, Putricia's "sibling", will not be displayed to the public and will be kept in the nursery to better control conditions.
It was expected to be in full bloom overnight.
A second smelly corpse flower has started to bloom on Saturday afternoon at Sydney's Botanic Gardens.
But unlike Putricia, whose flowering for just 24 hours last month was witnessed by almost 20,000 visitors keen to take a whiff of her foul odour, her "sister" is being kept out of the public eye.
It also means there will be no live stream — a disappointment to the more than 900,000 people who obsessively tuned in for Putricia.
The flowering of a second corpse flower at Sydney's Botanic Gardens will not be shown to the public. (ABC News: Berge Breiland)
Gardens Chief Scientist Brett Summerell presented the plant to the media in a closed glasshouse on Saturday by saying: "It's another one," and describing it as much smaller than Putricia but a "little stinkier".
"Perhaps the smaller you are, the more powerful the punch you pack," he said.
It is the plant's first bloom and has happened in less time than Putricia, which Dr Summerell has partly attributed to the conditions in the glasshouse — and why she will be kept there.
"We're really very excited that we have another corpse flower blooming, it's really come on in the last couple of days," he said.
"Because we're concentrating on the science and the conservation of this species, we've decided not to put her out on display and keep her in these conditions to learn as much as possible to ramp up the conservation efforts."
It is expected the plant, which does not have a name yet but is being referred to as "stinky", will be in full bloom overnight.
'Fishy, dead mouse and dead possum smell'
Dr Summerell says it was a "nice surprise" to have two blooms in a short period of time. (ABC News: Chantelle Al-Khouri)
Garden staff earlier said they were putting into practice what they had learnt from moving Putricia for public display, which "meant that she was exposed to changes in motion, air temperature and humidity".
When asked about this plant's odour, Dr Summerell described it as "a combination of fishy, dead mouse and dead possum smell."
"Once we turned off the air conditioning in the glasshouse, the smell is starting to permeate through quite effectively."
Both this plant and Putricia are genetically identical after they were propagated from the same leaf cuttings and at the same time.
How much did Putricia smell like a corpse?
Photo shows Crowds of people hold their nose while they look on at a large flower blooming inside a tent.
Dr Summerell said it was a "nice surprise" to have two blooms in close succession.
The bunga bangkai, titan arum or Amorphophallus titanum plant has the biggest, smelliest flower spike in the world and only flowers once every few years.
They thrive in shady, moist and warm conditions at about 22 degrees Celsius and 75 per cent humidity.
Corpse flowers are rare and endangered and usually found in the West Sumatran rainforests, with estimates that there are fewer than 1,000 specimens left in the wild.
A 'plant to die for'
Putricia flowered for just 24 hours on Thursday, January 23. (ABC News)
For Putricia, her flowering on Thursday, January 23, was the fifth time such an event had taken place at the gardens, with other blooms in 2004, 2008, 2010 and a double bloom in 2006.
There had been a few false alarms in the lead-up to Putricia opening up but by that stage, she was being measured daily.
She stood at 1.62 metres just a couple of days before the big event, when the spathe took 6 hours to unfurl completely.
And that was when the odour from the "plant to die for", as spruiked by the Gardens, kicked in.
"Rotten eggs" and "poo" was how some fans described her smell, which overpowered the glasshouse.
Others said it smelled like "chicken you've left out a little too long" or "a wet towel".