![]() ![]() (Even the smallest are roughly the size of dinner plates.) In the Philippines, on the Malay Peninsula, and on the islands of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, where these plants grow from vines trailing across the rainforest floor, Rafflesia are celebrated. arnoldii’s spectacular flower is the least of its appeal to scientists, because the genus to which it belongs also holds a gigantic genetic mystery.Īll members of the genus Rafflesia produce huge flowers. In the largest flowers, the chamber is almost big enough for an infant to crawl inside and fall asleep. ![]() Botanists have named the spikes “processes,” but have no clear idea what they do. Within lies a disk covered with spiked structures. In full bloom, each bud’s central floral chamber-orb-shaped, with a circular opening at the top-resembles a planetarium or astronomical observatory with a mottled roof partially opened to the sky. Buds erupt without warning from an infected host vine and swell slowly over months to the size of cabbages. With no roots, shoots, stems, or leaves, this parasitic plant is stealthy, visually undetectable until it prepares to bloom. for Pre-Professional StudentsThe largest flower in the world, Rafflesia arnoldii, is more than three feet across.
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