Interesting Facts About Rafflesia, The Largest Flower Genus In The World.
Facts About Rafflesia, The Largest Flower Genus In The World
Kingdom :- Plantae
Clade :- Tracheophytes
Clade :- Angiosperms
Clade :- Eudicots
Clade :- Rosids
Order :- Malpighiales
Family :- Rafflesiaceae
Genus :- Rafflesia
Rafflesia plants are a very rare type of plant in the world. Rafflesia is a genus of the largest flowering plant in the world and is a parasitic plant, which belongs to the family Rafflesiaceae. It is seen in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Sumatra, Philippines and Malaysia. Rafflesia is called as Puspa langka ( which means rare flower ) or Padma paksasa ( which means giant flower ) in Indonesia and Bua phut in Thailand, and it is also the official state flower of Indonesia ( Rafflesia arnoldii, which was chosen as the state flower on World Environment Day in 1990 ) as well as Sabah state, in Malaysia and Surat Thani Province, in Thailand ( Rafflesia kerrii, which is called as Bua phut ).
History :-
The Rafflesia plant was first discovered by Louis Deschamps, a french surgeon and naturalist and it was first found in Java. The genus Rafflesia is named after Sir Stamford Raffles, who was the founder of the british colony of modern Singapore. In 2019, the Rafflesia flower (Rafflesia arnoldii) found in West Sumatra holds the world record as the world's largest flower. Its diameter was approximately 120cm and it broke the record of rafflesia flower found in 2017. Because it was 10cm wider than the flower found in 2017.
Some Other biological information about Rafflesia :-
The Rafflesia plant has no stems, leaves & roots and is a flower with five petals and the main thing is that it is a parasitic plant. Maximum time, it is seen that the rafflesia plant attaches itself to a host plant. It is seen only in the rainforest regions of Sumatra, Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia and Thailand. Because it needs a huge amount of water and nutrients to grow.
Rufflesia flowers are unisexual. This flower is commonly known as "corpse flower" or "meat flower", as it looks & smells like rotting flesh. Many insects are attracted to this flower due to the smell of rotting flesh and carry pollen from female to male flower and vice versa.
A rafflesia flower takes about six to nine months to become a bud and then bloom. The average lifespan of this flower is 5 to 7 days. Because, after blooming, it takes 2 or 3 days to start decompose and then, after 5 to 7 days, completely decomposes.
Rafflesia flowers are known as the largest flowers in the world, because they are really very large, and a species of rafflesia, called Rafflesia arnoldii, is the largest flower in the world. It is about 100cm in diameter and weighs up to 10kg.
About some species of Rafflesia :-
There are about 28 species in the genus Rafflesia. The smallest species of Rafflesia is the Rafflesia baletei, whose flower is about 12cm in diameter, while the largest species is the Rafflesia arnoldii.
The world's largest blooming flower is Rafflesia arnoldii and is also the heaviest flower. The name "arnoldii" of Rafflesia arnoldii is derived from the name Joseph Arnold, the British naturalist.
The flower rafflesia is commonly referred to as the "corpse flower", but the name "corpse flower" is also name of "Carrion flower" (Titan arum), scientifically known as the Amorphophallus titanum and the family as Araceae . Many people make mistakes when they talk about the largeness of Amorphophallus titanum and Rafflesia arnoldii, but in fact Rafflesia arnoldii is the largest single blooming flower of any flowering plant in the world, while Amorphophallus titanum flower is the largest inflorescence in the world.
Some species of rafflesia, like Rafflesia keithii, it blooms at night and starts to decompose after 2 or 3 days. Scientists say that a species of rafflesia, called Rafflesia lagascae, has lost its chloroplast's genome and is believed to have been caused by a parasitic lifestyle.
Some species of rafflesia, which are found in the Philippines, are called Mindanao species. A Mindanao species called Rafflesia schadenbergiana is named after the naturalist Alexander Schadenberg, who first discovered this species in 1882. In the genus Rafflesia of the Mindanao species, Rafflesia mira and Rafflesia magnifica are two names of a single species. Because, they differ in size, so their name is also different.
Mainly, the species of rafflesia are named after its discoverer, or the name of a respected person, such as Rafflesia pricei, is named after William Price, who discovered this flower in 1960 and Rafflesia tengku-adlinii is named after Dr. Tengku D. Z. Adlin who was president of the Sabah Society and Chairman of Sabah Tourism Board in Malaysia.
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