The Largest Flower In The World
For Rafflesia, the illusion of death brings life
What comes to mind when you think of the word flower?
Roses, a first date, the freshness of the morning, a fragrance to remember someone by? It might be a sadder memory: last kisses, a funeral, going away present for your best friend.
Flowers can be stories on their own. And the world’s largest known individual flower also has a story to tell.
Rafflesia arnoldii, or the corpse flower, is a parasitic flowering plant native to Southeast Asia. As the plant feeds on its host, Tetrastigma vines, its fully developed flower appears foreground as a thick fleshy bulb. It can grow over 3 feet, which itself seems maddening.
They may take over five years to fully mature. But when they do, it is a sight to behold. Their five-lobed structure is adorned by pulpy warts, whiskers and even teeth-like formations. But it is no animal. However, it does outweigh some of the smaller animals, standing at 11 kgs.
It only opens up for five to seven days, during which it emanates a pungent odour — the smell of death. This stench of rotting meat is pretty uncommon for flowers, but for Rafflesia, it plays a biological purpose.
This rotting smell attracts a species of flies who lay their eggs in decomposing animal carcasses during its pollination period. The carrion flies carry the pollen from one male plant to a female plant. And life is born for the Rafflesia family.
It has been difficult for this plant to survive through habitat loss and targeted poaching, with more than one of Rafflesia’s species now critically endangered.
The stinking corpse lily itself resembles death with no stem, leaves or roots. But it can be a glaring declaration of life with excellent medicinal properties. Drinking a Rafflesia tea after childbirth, indigenous peoples of northern Borneo believe, will flush the body of toxins.
With its vibrant colours, the corpse flower also brings a lot of questions to the table. Questions, that for the most part, still boggle botanists around the world. Why is it the largest flower in the world? What relationship does it share with other flowering plants? Why does it have teeth-like spikes within the flower?
It is one of the biggest puzzles (also, owing to its great size) that remains to be solved in the flowering-plant evolution. Yet for now, Rafflesia maintains its fascinating genetic mystery.
