The world's biggest, smelliest flower has borne fruit at the Eden Project in Cornwall for the first time.

The rare Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), 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.

Tony Moore, professor of biochemistry at the University of Sussex and a leading authority on thermogenic, or heat-producing plants such as the Titan arum, said: "This is a very exciting development, given how little we know about this remarkable plant.

"Establishing colonies at Eden, rather than individuals, will be particularly helpful in improving our understanding of heat generation, pollination, fruit development and dispersal.

"The titan is one of the great wonders of the plant world and I am particularly interested in this thermogenic plant because it contains a protein that is also found in human parasites such as the ones that cause African sleeping sickness.

Tony Moore, University of Sussex: "This is a very exciting development, given how little we know about this remarkable plant."

"Understanding the structure of this protein may enable us to develop new compounds to help to fight the disease. The last time a titan flowered at Eden I was able to take some valuable tissue samples for protein analysis and the potential development of a colony of plants will greatly aid our research."

Professor Moore visited Eden to give a series of talks about the plants in February 2007, when Eden’s second titan was in flower.

Although this is the third titan grown at Eden, it is the first to produce berries. The pollen used was provided by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, who had a titan flowering at the same time as Eden's. In 2005, Kew successfully pollinated a titan with pollen from Eden's first plant.

The titan, which is rare in the wild, is only receptive to pollen at the base of the large flowering column. Eden horticulturalist Tim Grigg, who grew the plant from seed, used a paintbrush attached to a long stick to 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 titan fruit head will be ripening for the next six to eight months and we’re going to keep it on display in the Malaysia area of the Rainforest Biome for the public to see and enjoy.

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

When the berries have finished developing, Tim can then check if they are carrying seeds.

In the Titan's native Indonesia the berries would be eaten by hornbills and other tropical birds which disperse the seeds throughout the rainforest.

The fruit is poisonous to humans so any seeds from Eden's Titan will be extracted and used to grow more plants.