So, this is what's behind the wrinkled nose epidemic

Like all greatest entrances it was behind schedule, but the appearance of the world's largest (and smelliest) flower, for the first time in 33 years was no less spectacular for that.

Botanists,tourists and journalists had been camped out at Kew Gardens since Monday, when it was thought that the giant titan arum would unfurl in public.

Their patience was finally rewarded yesterday, when the two-metre high flower finally burst into bloom.

But the infamous perfume - described as a mixture of rotting fish and burnt sugar - was less apparent.

Monica Foster, from Mitcham, Surrey, said: "I've got a very big nose and I couldn't smell anything." But botanist Peter Boyce said he had picked up the unmistakeable scent of the flower on Tuesday evening. It was quite overpowering - a mixture of rotting flesh and burning sugar with ammonia over the top. It was a bit like a rubbish bin in summer time."

Sir David Attenborough, one of the few westerners to have seen titan bloom in its native Sumatra, was not bothered by the pungent aroma: "Flowers aren't designed to smell nice for the benefit of humans. Some of them do because they are pollinated by honey bees, but bluebottles or blowflies will do the job just as well."

Some visitors were clearly more intrigued by the appearance of the plant (Amorphophallus titanum). Karina Cleary, of Forest Hill, south London, said: "It looks like an alien. I'm waiting for it to do something - walk around a bit or explode."

The excitement at Kew when the titan flowered for the second time (the first was in 1889) was so great that police had to be called in to control the crowd. Their presence was not required yesterday, despite an estimated 5,000 visitors.

Photograph:

Peter Macdiarmid