Rafflesia
This is the rafflesia (Rafflesia arnoldii – a plant with no leaves, no roots, no stem... and it's also the biggest flower in the world. Not only that, but it's a jungle parasite too; and now sadly one of the rarest plants in the world. So rare that it’s on the verge of extinction.
Yet it’s also a fairly unpleasant plant, designed to imitate rotting meat or dung – and if you get too close to it, your nose will tell you.
The flower is basically a large pot flanked by five red-brick and spotted cream 'petals' which attract passing carrion flies and other insects, which it then devours.
Like all parasites, the rafflesia depends on something else to survive – in this case nearby vines. But because of logging, damn ubiquitous logging, the rainforest vines are disappearing – and so, therefore, is the rafflesia.
So… not the most attractive plant in the world, by any stretch of imagination. But because of its increasing and now extreme rarity, I feel lucky to have seen one, albeit in its dying days, in Borneo way back in 2005.
Rafflesia
This is the rafflesia (Rafflesia arnoldii – a plant with no leaves, no roots, no stem... and it's also the biggest flower in the world. Not only that, but it's a jungle parasite too; and now sadly one of the rarest plants in the world. So rare that it’s on the verge of extinction.
Yet it’s also a fairly unpleasant plant, designed to imitate rotting meat or dung – and if you get too close to it, your nose will tell you.
The flower is basically a large pot flanked by five red-brick and spotted cream 'petals' which attract passing carrion flies and other insects, which it then devours.
Like all parasites, the rafflesia depends on something else to survive – in this case nearby vines. But because of logging, damn ubiquitous logging, the rainforest vines are disappearing – and so, therefore, is the rafflesia.
So… not the most attractive plant in the world, by any stretch of imagination. But because of its increasing and now extreme rarity, I feel lucky to have seen one, albeit in its dying days, in Borneo way back in 2005.