The Eden Project saw the blooming of one of the world’s strongest smelling flowers on Tuesday.

The titan arum – proper name Amorphophallus titanium – flowered unexpectedly, and staff at Eden believe this to be due to the heatwave raising the temperature within the Rainforest Biome to almost 40 degrees.

Eden storyteller Rob Copeland said: “It’s taken us a bit by surprise today as it has gone into its glory early. Visitors will have about 48 hours to enjoy it in full bloom and sample the unique pong.”

“It has grown about a metre in the last week which suggests to us that the heat has brought it on. It is one of the smaller ones we’ve had. The advantage to visitors is that they can get up close and peer down to the bottom of the flower spike to see the beautiful flowers at the base. If they don’t fancy the smell they can hold their noses.”

This rare plant is native to Sumatra Indonesia, and can grow up to three metres tall and live for up to ten years before dying back shortly after flowering. Titan arums are thermogenic, meaning that they produce their own heat to spread around their smell and attract pollinators. When the flower first opens, it heats up to 38 degrees centigrade and can be smelled from up to half a mile away.

The flowers have become an Eden speciality in recent years and the current titan arum has been grown by inhouse expert Tim Grigg, who since 2001 has cultivated many of the amazing red and green blooms.