Stinky Flowers: Stinking Corpse Lily (Rafflesia arnoldii)
Another carrion flower that is often referred to as a “corpse flower” is Rafflesia arnoldii, native to the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia. These plants look and smell like a rotting carcass. These stinkers are big too: Rafflesia flowers are the largest individual flowers on Earth.
The flower, with several petal-like structures around a large opening, can weigh up to 24 lbs (11 kg) and grow as large as a person’s torso.
Rafflesia is a parasitic flower. It has no leaves, stems, roots or chlorophyll (the chemical that helps plants photosynthesize). Any water or nutrition is siphoned from its host, the Tetrastigma vine. This makes Rafflesia very tricky to find in the wild because it grows as thread-like fibers within this vine. When it’s ready to reproduce it will form a cabbage-like lump that bursts through to the outside. About a year later, the lump will open but only for a few days. Rafflesia will then grow round fruit, filled with thousands of seeds that are spread by forest animals.
(via: Our Amazing Planet) (photo: Jeremy Holden)
