🌸🌺😲RAFFLESIA😍😍
Rafflesia arnoldii, commonly called the corpse lily or stinking corpse lily, is a species of flowering plant in the parasitic genus Rafflesia. It is noted for producing the largest individual flower on Earth. It has a very strong and unpleasant odour of decaying flesh, earning it the nickname "corpse flower". It is endemic to the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo. Although there are some plants with larger flowering organs like the titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) and talipot palm (Corypha umbraculifera), those are technically clusters of many flowers.
Discovery
The first European botanist to find Rafflesia was the French explorer Louis Auguste Deschamps (1765–1842). He was a member of a French scientific expedition to Asia and the Pacific. During the expedition, he spent three years on Java, where, in 1797, he collected a specimen of what is now known as R. patma. During the return voyage in 1798, his ship was taken by the British, with whom France was at war, and all his papers and notes were confiscated. They did not see the light of day until 1954, when they were rediscovered in the Natural History Museum, London.
Description[edit]
The flower of Rafflesia arnoldii grows to a diameter of around one meter (3.3 feet), but the greatest measurement from a reliable source is 105 centimeters (3.44 feet) for one at Palupah Nature Reserve near Bukittinggi, Sumatra measured by Prof. Syabuddin of Andalas University. R. arnoldi weighs up to 11 kilograms (24 lb).These flowers emerge from very large, cabbage-like, maroon or magenta buds typically about 30 cm (12 in) wide, but the largest (and the largest flower bud ever recorded) found at Mount Sago, Sumatra in May 1956 was 43 cm (17 in) in diameter
It lives as a parasite on several vines of the genus Tetrastigma, which grow only in primary (undisturbed) rainforests. Rafflesia lacks any observable leaves, stems or even roots, yet is still considered a vascular plant. Similar to fungi, individuals grow as thread-like strands of tissue completely embedded within and in intimate contact with surrounding host cells from which nutrients and water are obtained. This plant produces no leaves, stems or roots and does not have chlorophyll. It can only be seen outside the host plant when it is ready to reproduce. Perhaps the only part of Rafflesia that is identifiable as distinctly plant-like are the flowers, though even these are unusual since they attain massive proportions, have a reddish-brown coloration, and stink of rotting flesh.
Reproduction
Rafflesia arnoldii is rare and fairly hard to locate. It is especially difficult to locate the flower in forests, as the buds take many months to develop and the flower lasts for just a few days. The flowers are unisexual and thus proximity of male and female flowers is vital for successful pollination. These factors make successful pollination a rare event.
When Rafflesia is ready to reproduce, a tiny bud forms outside the root or stem of its host and develops over a period of a year. The cabbage-like head that develops eventually opens to reveal the flower. The stigma or stamens are attached to a spiked disk inside the flower. A foul smell of rotting meat attracts flies and beetles to pollinate. To pollinate successfully, the flies and/or beetles must visit both the male and female plants, in that order. The fruit produced are round lots filled with smooth flesh including many thousands of hard-coated seeds that are eaten and spread by treeshrews.
LIFECYCLE
Tribute[edit]
On January 9, 2018, Google celebrated the 25th anniversary of Rafflesia Arnoldii with a Google Doodle.[10]
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