Tourists spotted 'damaging' rare corpse flower that takes years to bloom
This is the moment Western tourists appear to damage a rare flower that takes years of cultivation to bloom in Indonesia.
Video from Agam in West Sumatra's Pandan forest shows the foreigners, believed to be from the UK and South Korea, inspecting the Amorphophallus titanum, also known as the corpse flower.
One tourist in a chequered shirt and glasses can be seen using a piece of sharpened bamboo to poke the flower.
The filmer of the video calls out to the tourists, who immediately stop interfering with the flower.
The tourists had reportedly told their guide they were carrying out research on the plant, which is native to the Western Sumatra region.
Photos of the flower show a deep wound on the plant's stem and that a petal had been damaged.
The tourists reportedly received a warning and escaped without charge, according to local guides.
The Corpse Flower is so named because it gives off a rancid smell once it blooms, which occurs after seven to ten years of growth.
The cadaver-like odour attracts flies and beetles, which get trapped in the flower and get covered in pollen.