The largest flowers in the world - rafflesia arnoldi and amophallus giant - are a real miracle of nature. They grow in Sumatra and are incredibly large in size.
Rafflesia arnoldi
When the first European explorers crossed the jungle of Sumatra in the 19th century, they were struck by flowers, the size of a large wheel, that seemed to lie right on the ground. The flowers had fleshy juicy red petals with white growths on the surface, reminiscent of a piece of rotting meat. At the bottom of his cup, nectar was found that could fill a small saucepan. A cadaverous smell spread from the flower. Both its color and specific scent are designed to attract insects that feed on predatory flowers. This is Rafflesia Arnoldi - the largest flower in the world.
The plant got its name thanks to its discoverers - biologist Arnold and officer Raffles.
Its size reaches 1.5 m in diameter, 3-4 m in the perimeter, and its weight is about 10-12 kg. Rafflesia arnoldi inhabits the forests of Sumatra and Borneo. It has neither roots nor foliage, as it lives by parasitizing on the roots of vines. Because of this, until recently, biologists could not classify rafflesia as one of the plant families. However, a recent DNA test came as a surprise, the flower belongs to the euphorbia family. The most famous species of this family are cassava and rubber tree.
Amorphophalus giant (Amorphophalus titanum)
Also in Sumatra, another huge flower grows - the giant amorphophallus. It is the largest flower in the world and can grow up to 3m in height. Like rafflesia, amorphophallus emits a rotten flesh odor that attracts all sorts of carrion-eating insects.
Amorphophallus blooms for 2-3 days, 3-4 times in 40 years of existence.
The giant purple petals are actually the bracts (protective sheet). It can be up to 1.2 m in diameter and 1.3 m in height. A huge inflorescence grows from a tuber weighing up to 100 kg. On a giant "trunk" in the middle of a flower (the so-called cob) there are flowers, both female and male.
Fan palm (Corypha umbraculifera)
The largest inflorescence in the fan palm (Corypha umbraculifera), native to southern India and Ceylon. The leaves of the plant reach 25 m in height, the stems are up to 1.3 m in diameter, and the inflorescences are 6-8 m in length. They consist of several million small flowers attached to a branched stem at the top of the trunk. The fan palm blooms only once in its life between the ages of 30 and 80.
