A corpse flower in far north Queensland has smashed the record for the tallest of its kind in an Australian botanic garden.

The flower, nicknamed Spud, is currently on display at the Cairns Botanic Gardens.

It has been poised to bloom for a week and started opening on Thursday.

Curator David Warmington said the flower measured in at 282 centimetres tall.

"Previous to this the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne had one flower earlier this year and that was 263 centimetres tall, so Spud has now taken the honours," he said.

He said it was magnificent to behold, but not to smell.

"The smell is emitted from the giant pointy bit," he said.

"That actually heats up and emits this strong smell of decaying, rotting animal.

"That obviously brings blow flies and beetles and a whole range of other insects."

In December, thousands turned out to catch a whiff of a corpse flower on display at the Mount Lofty Botanic Garden, near Adelaide.

"I almost had to stop myself from throwing up it was so bad," the garden's Matt Coulter said of the flower's smell.