Below is a list of 5 bad smelling plants to not grow. The reason I say to avoid growing them is because the smell is just too horrendous! They might be interesting, but the intense stench is over-bearing. Why plant these smelly things to attract lots of bugs, when there are many other plants that have a fantastic fragrance.

5. Rafflesia

This plant smells like rotting flesh and grows to be 4 to 5 feet wide. Sure, it’s a truly impressive flower, but it isn’t known as the Cadaver Flower for no reason at all. It’s hard for people to take a picture of this orange specked red blossom without gagging.

4. Ginkgo Trees

They grow into a tree and smell like rotten eggs. The benefits of ginkgo are widely known, but I wouldn’t want to be the one who had to harvest this plant. These trees get enormously large, which means there are plenty of leaves to stink up quite a lot of area.

3. Voodoo Lily

This tropical plant smells worse than decaying meat. Thankfully it is a very short-lived flower. There’s really no need to try growing this enormous plant, other than to irritate your housemates or to keep guests away.

2. Skunk Cabbage

The smell of decaying meat oozes from the leaves of this plant. The blossoms are a deep purple and measure around 4 inches. All you have to do is break or tear a leaf to get the smell rolling out. This can be treacherous if the plant starts growing in your yard and you end up mowing over it.

1. Corpse Plant

The Corpse Plant smells like rotting bodies and grows larger than most humans do. You can imagine the odor coming off of a flower that size. Although interesting, it’s best to leave these plants to the botanical gardens that can put them on display for the general public.

Each of these plants is too smelly to be grown in small areas, not to mention overly large in some cases. Have you come across some bad smelling plants at all? Do you see any reason to try to grow them in your own home?

Top Photo Credit: Araleya