WORLD’S BIGGEST FLOWER
Manjula B R
II BSC CBZ
Govt. First Grade College, Tumkur(INDIA)
The flower with the world's largest bloom is the Rafflesia arnoldii. This rare flower is found in the rainforests of Indonesia. It can grow to be 3 feet across and weigh up to 15 pounds! It is a parasitic plant, with no visible leaves, roots, or stem.
Rafflesia arnoldii is the largest individual flower on earth. The flower can have a diameter of up to 106 cm. and can weigh up to 10 kg. Although technically a member of the plant kingdom, Rafflesia challenges traditional definitions of what a plant is because it lacks ch lorophyll and is therefore incapable of photosynthesis.
Rafflesia scientific classification
Genus :- Rafflesia
Species :- 28 Range S-E Asian
Habit :- parasite
Host plant :- Some species of Tetrastigma vine found in the rain forest.
Wait :- 11Kilograms
Diameter :-106.7 m (3 ft 6 inches)
Rafflesia Habitat: Rafflesia plants are specialist parasites only found in association with specific species of the hostvine tetrastigma species. These vines are in the both primary and secondary rainforest.
Phylum :- Tracheophyta
Kingdom :-Plantae
Genus :- Rafflesia
Family :- Rafflaciaceae
It is a genus of parasitic flowering plants. It contains approximately 28 species. Including four in completely characterized species as recognized by Willem meijer in 1997 all found in southest Asia mainly in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It was first discovered by Louis Deschames In Java between 1791 and 1794.But his notes and illustrations sized by the British in 1803 were not available to western science until 1861.It was later found in the Indonesia rainforest Bengkulu Sumatra by an Indonesia guide working for Joseph Arnold in 1818 and named after Sis Stamford raffles the leader of the expedition.
Rafflesia adaptations
The Rafflesia Arnoldii has two amazing adaptations which are very important for its survival. The first is that it is the largest flower in the world! Its diameter can reach up to 90cm, and its weight 10-11kg. Its second and most known fact is that it smells like a decaying corpse! They do this to attract flies and keep away animals and also humans. Flies get attracted to the smell and help the flower re-pollinate. The Rafflesia Arnoldii does not grow and get its nutrients by itself, it is a parasite on the Testarigma Leucostaphylum to get its nutrients and only appears in its maturity stages.