- Who
- Rafflesia arnoldii
- What
- 111 centimetre(s)
- Where
- Indonesien ()
- When
The mottled orange-brown and white parasitic plant Rafflesia arnoldii has the largest of all flowers. One specimen discovered in January 2020 in a forest in West Sumatra, Indonesia, measured 111 cm (3 ft 7.7 in) across. R. arnoldii may weigh up to 11 kg (24 lb) with its five fleshy petals reaching up to 1.9 cm (0.75 in) thick. They have no leaves, stem or roots, instead growing as a parasite within jungle vines. Every so often, the buds burst through the vine and grow to their full size, though after months of development, the full-grown flower only lasts for around a week.
Rafflesia arnoldii resembles a poppy with some saying it also looks like a chrysanthemum.
"Flowers" and "blooms" are actually different. Flowers are a single entity, e.g., a tulip, whereas blooms are a cluster of flowers (inflorescence) on a single head e.g., a sunflower or daisy.
Rafflesia arnoldii emits a foul odour in order to attract pollinators such as flies, which has earned it the nickname "corpse flower". It shares that epithet with the so-called titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), which is larger in bulk, although technically it is considered an "inflorescence" (cluster of flowers) and therefore does not beat Rafflesia arnoldii. Both species are native to the rainforests of south-east Asia. The tallest titan arum on record measured 3.1 m (10 ft 2 in) on 18 June 2010, and was grown by Louis Ricciardiello (USA) in Gilford, New Hampshire, USA.
