Rafflsia

Rafflesia Arnoldii

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( Stinking Corpse Lilly) the largest ower in the world

Your walking in a malaysian Rainforest. Suddenly a swarm of flies pass by. You wonder whats going on, you smell a scent that smells like a rotten corpse. You follow the scent, the disgusting scent gets stronger and stronger..... You hear buzzing. You go closer and... UGH! The smell of rotten meat is around you, flies buzz around a monster flower, some covered with pollen. You are face-to-face with Rafflesia Arnoldii, largest flower in the world!

BIG QUESTION: What makes Rafflesia Arnoldii different from other flowers?

A lot! The venn diagram will give you the answer to the question!

Rafflesia

Stinks like rotten meat carrion flies only who pollinate it. doesn始t conduct photosynthesis has no leaves parasitic on tetrastigma 1 meter across ( 3 feet) 24 pounds ( 11 kg)

vs

Normal plant

smells nice to attract insects, bees, butterflies, flies, etc conducts photosynthesis quite small, could be grown male and femal- in a pot. le genders probably not a parasite pollinated by insects

What are some of Rafflesia始s properties and traits?

Color: The rafflesia始s color is reddish or purplish brown. It can also have a mottled pattern.

Size: It can be 1 meter across, about as long as a yardstick!

Weight: 24 pounds! ( 11 kg) Smell: Ugh! Smells like a rotting buffalo corpse! Thats how it got the name Stinking Corpse Lilly!

Shape; 5 lobed, has a central cup with a fruit in it*.

Traits: Rafflesia is a parasite. It lives of Tetrastigma roots, because it has no leaves to conduct photosynthesis.

Rafflesia is open only 5-7 days. During this time the Rafflesia flower attracts flies to pollinate it.

The flower is the only structure above the ground, everything else is underneath the ground. * The fruit is a berry that contains sticky seeds. It is disseminated by fruit eating rodents FAST FACT; Rafflesia is rare. You will find it in Tropical rainforest areas, Such as tropical South Asia, Malaysia, Java, and Sumatra.

Rafflesia Zone

Rafflesia Life Cycle

The Rafflesia seed begins its life the side of a grain of salt. It sticks to the feet of animals and is transported through the rainforest to Tetrastigma, the plantʼs host vine.

Now come the last part of Rafflesiaʼs life. Death. Rafflesiaʼs petals blacken, and disappear without a trace. But unseen threads remain alive in tetrastigma, ready to bloom again

Once the seed has found the host vine, it sends thread like stems into Tetrastigmaʼs roots. The seed lives invisibly underground. The only time it will be seen is when it is ready to reproduce, thatʼs when it becomes a flower and starts smelling!

Fast Fact; Rafflesia takes a lot of nutrition from tetrastigma, but returns nothing.

Now comes the part where the flower stinks. The flower is known for this, and also to be the largest flower in the world, not biggest or tallest! Learn about why the Rafflesia stinks on page 5.

The bud has started to swell and ʻLooks like an orange cabbageʼ. 9 months later the bud blooms as a single flower. Sadly, 80%-90% of the buds die before they bloom. The surviving buds bloom to become a 5 lobed, stinky flower!

Why Does Rafflesia Stink?

Rafflesia doesnʼt stink for the fun of having the company of flies and driving away animals and people.

This flower has a clever plan in mind!

Time to carry out my plan! Iʼll just have a quick review with my plan in my secret notebook, you can see it for once, O. K, but donʼt tell anyone about it, or Iʼll stink you up, and tomato juice doesnʼt work for it!

Stink Plan Buffalo perfume Step 1. To attract carrion flies, I must stink like a rotting corpse. Luckily, I already have the perfume.

Step 2. The flies will come, hoping to find dead meat. I must be ready to dump pollen on them.

They will have to visit a male flower after me because iʼm a female flower. The flies have to visit both genders before a seed grows.

Notes; The purpose of this plan is to attract Carrion flies who will pollinate me.

Donʼt get into serious conversations with those flies or theyʼl never leave.

Okay, youʼve seen what you need to see. Donʼt come asking to see it again, ʻcause thatʼs just plain rude.

Now run along and play!

Is Rafflesia Endangered?

If so, why?

I would love to say no to that question, But unfortunately, the answer is yes, Rafflesia is endangered, and for about 3 causes.

Cause 1 This is a cause that threatens every single endangered species. Habitat loss. Forests are being cut down where Rafflesia lives. How is it supposed to live and grow in New York Zoo?

Cause 2 If you had a plant that was for some reason under a bush and you trimmed the bush or removed it would it kill the plant? No way!

The plant doesn始t depend on the bush for to keep it alive! But Rafflesia is a different matter. Rafflesia depends on Tetrastigma entirely for its life, Because Rafflesia lives of Tetrastigma. When people cut down or damage the host vine, they kill Rafflesia and unseen buds in Tetrastigma. Just because you don始t see something doesn始t mean it doesn始t exit.

Cause 3 This might seem weird to you, but people use Rafflesia buds for medicine! This also leads to another cause, Over harvesting.

FAST FACT; Rafflesia was found by Dr. Joseph Arnold and Sir Stamford Raffles in 1818

People are trying to raise awareness about the extinction. Hopefully, if they succeed, Rafflesia will continue to bloom in Malaysia.

Glossary Corpse- a dead human or animal ex) Flies buzzed around the black, panther corpse.

Disseminated- spread or disperse Endangered- In the danger of dying out completely, or becoming extinct.

Parasite- A living thing that lives of another.

Photosynthesis- The process in where a plant turns sunlight into food.

Tetrastigma- The plant that Rafflesia is parasitic on, or the plant that provides Rafflesia with nutrition.

Bibliography “ Rafflesiaceae� Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia online school edition Why does the Rafflesia flower stink? By Melissa Sherrad. ehow.com The world largest flower by Randi Lynn Mrvos