This plant is a rare specimen in other ways too. It has neither leaves, roots nor stems, and it is incapable of independently generating energy through photosynthesis.
A special milkweed plant
It prefers to live as a parasite by anchoring itself with the lower side to another plant and drawing nutrients from this source. She is highly specialized, only the Tetrastigma vine, a wild vine that grows with the Grape is related, can serve as a breeding ground.
This makes it difficult to compare Rafflesia arnoldii with other plants; the researchers only managed to classify it after 200 years in this decade: Based on genetic analyzes, the plant was able to
Within this family, too, the Rafflesia arnoldii astonished the researchers: While the other milkweed plants almost all develop much smaller flowers, it comes up trumps with the giant flower. The researchers are convinced that in the course of its evolution (the last six million years are spoken of here) the giant flower has become almost 80 times larger than it originally was. For comparison: Spurge family you know are the poinsettia, the Rubber tree, the cassava and also our dandelions.
The flower of Rafflesia arnoldii
The Rafflesia develops buds of up to half a meter
Diameter, of which about 75 percent die off again. The surviving buds take up to two years to open, then the giant flower slowly develops. The deep red flower with white dots weighs up to seven kilograms, exudes a penetrating smell of decay and can generate heat to attract insects to pollinate. The smell of putrefaction comes from an opening in the center of the flower once it is full and can be smelled within a radius of 100 meters until the giant blooms after 5 to 7 days wilted.The giant rafflesia grows on the part of Malaysia and Indonesia, both of which belong to the island of Borneo - a variant grows on the neighboring island of Sumatra, which belongs to Indonesia. A relative that Sapria himalayana, grows in Thailand, where it can be admired, for example, in the Khao-Sok National Park in Surit Thani Province (the Thai name is Buah Poh). It doesn't reach the size of the giant rafflesia, but you blossomsdiameter is still 20-30 centimeters.
The discoverer of Rafflesie
It was named after its discoverer: Sir Thomas Stamford Raffle, the founder of the state of Singapore, also led some expeditions. In 1818 he went on an expedition into the unexplored jungle of Sumatra with the British scientist Joseph Arnold. Servants report that they came across a colorful, huge flower, which gave off a disgusting stench from its fleshy petals.
After initial doubts, the expedition leaders followed up on the discovery and found a flower of 1.30 Meters in diameter and weighing 11 kilograms, which has since been the names of both expedition leaders perpetuated. The exceptional plant was sent to European scientists for investigation, who only confirmed at the end of 1819 that it really was a flower. It was now clear that the world's largest flower had been discovered.
In the case of Rafflesia arnoldii, the diameter of the flower sets the record. The tallest flower in the world is that Titan Arum, and the Talipot palm forms the most powerful and extensive inflorescence.
