Calgary Zoo's 'voodoo lily' stinks like rotting fish

It's called the Amorphophallus, buta konjac by any other name would smell as bad.

The unusual floweralso goes by devil's tongue, stink horn, carrion flowerand voodoo lily.

"The perfume it releases is exactly the same as a decomposing corpse," said Boyd Nave,interior gardener at the Calgary Zoo.

The putrid smell attracts the plant's natural pollinators, which include beetles andcarrion flies.

"It turns our stomach. It's unpleasant for us, but we have to remember there's animals that like rotten meat," said Nave.

Besides its unique fragrance, the plant also has an unusual flowering season.

"It's not like a petunia or a geranium. These things do things on their own schedule," Nave said.

The plant flowers irregularlysometimes once a year, sometimes once every three.

That's part of what makes its current bloom worth seeing.

Edible tubers

The plant is also commonly used in thefood industry.

Its tubers, which can grow to weigh more than 20 kilograms, have grown in popularity as adiet food.

Their starch is indigestible for humans, but gives the feeling of fullness, Nave said.

"In the diet food industry, if you wanna eat something that will do you no good whatsoever and fill you up, this is it."