A plant that smells like rotting meat is stinkin' up Washington D.C.

Yes, for once, political corruption is not the only thing making Capital Hill smelly. A special plant is in bloom-and it smells like rotting meat. The plant is a titan arum, or corpse flower, which is native to the Indonesian rainforest.

Tourists have come in droves to see the corpse flower, according to officials.

The titan arum is also among the world's largest plants. It's eight feet tall and smells like decomposing flesh. This is an evolutionary strategy and is to attract dung beetles and other pollinators.

The corpse flower began blooming Sunday at the United States Botanic Garden, and it may only be open for about 24 to 48 hours.

"Then it will collapse quickly," said the Botanic Garden. They're currently broadcasting the flower-and the crowds-on the Internet.

The titan arum plant blooms unpredictably-it may happen every few years or every few decades. And it requires a lot of babysitting, despite smelling like something that no longer has hope of, well, life.

"The plant requires very special conditions, including warm day and night temperatures and high humidity, making Botanic Gardens well suited to support this strange plant outside of its natural range," the garden said.

The plant was first found by Western scientists in 1878. One bloomed at the U.S. Botanic Garden in 2007, but not since then.

Almost 100,000 people have come this time. "We have had more than 98,000 people come visit from July 11 through July 21... unbelievable number of people!" garden spokeswoman Laura Condeluci told press.

Some of the stench had already passed-and visitors who waited in long lines in the heat were a bit disappointed by this.

"Not nearly as smelly as I had hoped," tweeted one visitor.

View a livestream of the plant here