'Corpse plant' makes deadly fruit

The titan arum has been nurtured by Mr Grigg for nine years

One of the world's smelliest flowers has produced a fruit at the Eden Project in Cornwall.

The rare titan arum, also known as the corpse flower because of its pungent smell, flowered in November and was pollinated by the project's gardeners.

It is now producing a fruit head of vibrant orange berries, thanks to the work of horticulturalist Tim Grigg.

But no-one will be tucking into titan fruit because it is potentially deadly to humans.

The titan arum has been nurtured by Mr Grigg for nine years.

He used a paintbrush to reach inside the giant flower head and pollinate it.

He said: "I couldn't believe that the pollination worked. At the time I wasn't sure, I'm really happy and excited."

The head will grow bigger and change colour from orange to red when it is ripe.

Cure hope

But although the plant is poisonous to humans, any seeds will be extracted and used to grow more plants.

And they could also benefit people in the future as the plant is thought to have healing properties.

Tony Moore, professor of biochemistry at the University of Sussex, said: "It contains a protein that is also found in human parasites such as the ones that cause African sleeping sickness.

"Understanding the structure of this protein may enable us to develop new compounds to help to fight the disease."