Details of Rafflesia, characteristics of Rafflesia

Rafflesia is a collective name for 20 succulent parasitic herbs of the genus Rafflesia in the family Macrofloraceae. Succulent, parasitic herbs, parasitic on roots, stems or shoots of plants, without chlorophyll; The nutrient-absorbing organs degenerate into mycelium and invade the host's tissues.

The leaves degenerate into scales or none. The flowers are usually solitary, radially symmetrical, unisexual, dioecious, and the perianth is conzynates. stamens mostly to 5, without filigree; The pistil is composed of several confluent carpels;

The ovules are very numerous, born on the lateral membranous placenta, and the beads are covered with 1-2 layers; Stigma 1 or none, stigma disc-shaped, capitate, or lobed. The fruit is a berry; The seeds are small, the seed coat is hard, and there is an endosperm. It is produced in tropical rainforests such as Malaysia, Java and Sumatra in Indonesia.

It is the largest flowering plant in the world.

Rafflesia is a bush parasitic plant in the family Macrofloraceae, which has no roots and green photosynthetic tissue, and parasitizes on the roots or lower climbing stems of grape plants under the deciduous layer of tropical rainforests. Although the flowers of Rafflesia are large. But its seeds are small, smaller than poppy seeds, and when they germinate, they swell in size, piercing the outer skin of the seeds and growing buds shaped like cabbage.

After a month, the flowers bloom and the rafflesia flowers are in full bloom and colorful. The five juicy petals are thick and tough, each an inch and a half thick. The flower** also has a large honey trough with a round mouth, which is quite large and can be filled with five and a half kilograms of water.

Rafflesia blooms only once in its lifetime and blooms for four days. When the flowers first bloom, they still have a little fragrance, but they will stink after that. The foul smell of pollen attracts many flies, and these ropes become the main pollinators of Rafflesia.

Squirrels are also interested in pollen, often licking from one anther to another.

On the fourth day of flowering, the large petals of Rafflesia begin to fall off. This is a sign of the withering of the flower. Within a few weeks, the other lobes also quickly fall off, turning black in color and finally into a pool of sticky black substance, and the pollinated female flower gradually forms a semi-rotten fruit over the next 7 months.

The most common host of Rafflesia is a climbing vine, but there are some problems in their parasitic dependence that have not yet been explained.

There is still controversy in the scientific community about how the seeds of Rafflesia are disseminated. Some botanists believe that the seeds in the fruit were stepped on by deer and wild boar into a host plant with broken stem bark; Others think the squirrels may have helped. The squirrel eats the fruit while grinding its teeth and chewing on the host's bark, thus bringing the seed into the broken bark.

In addition, termites and other ants may have played a role.

It is not well known how the seeds germinate, except that the filamentous buds of the seeds gradually spread within the stem skin of the host without harming the host. After about a year and a half, buds about centimeters long germinate. The shell bucket that serves as the base of the flower is developed from the xylem of the host and is shaped like a wide-mouthed jar.

Rafflesia is found only in Sumatra and Borneo and is now endangered due to the destruction of large tracts of rainforest. Professor William Major of the United States spent a day running within a 160-kilometer radius of Bataan, the capital of West Sumatra, when he found only a blooming Rafflesia flower and nearby buds in a jungle near the cultivated land, with a diameter of meters in meters.

Rafflesia is locally called bungapatma, which means a large and showy flower like a lotus leaf. People love it mainly because of its beautiful charm and magnificent posture.

Rafflesia is the largest flower in the world, the diameter can reach meters, the petals are about centimeters thick, a flower has five petals, more than 30 catties of weight, the center of the flower can hold more than 10 catties of water, and can even hide a person. The strange thing is that this flower smells like feces, and compared to the orchid that is "the most fragrant in the world", it is really 108,000 miles away. Butterflies and bees ignore it, and it is a swarm of noisy flies that help it pollinate.

Rafflesia is not only smelly, but also "lazy", and lives exclusively by absorbing nutrients from other plants, so it has no leaves and no stems. Its seeds are so small that they are almost impossible to see with the naked eye. Its seeds are also a bit lazy, with small sticky seeds, and when elephants or other animals step on it, they are taken to other places to take root, germinate, and reproduce.

Rafflesia grows in tropical forests such as Java and Sumatra in Malaysia, Indonesia.

In the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo, there is a strange flower, its flower is more than 1 meter in diameter, like a large round table, it can be called the largest flower in the world. What's even more peculiar is that it has no stems or leaves, and it grows on a vine, and the whole flower is all it has. Rafflesia absorbs almost all the nutrients from the vines, and almost all of the flowers grow.

Rafflesia blooms for four days and is very beautiful, but the pollen has a disgusting rotting smell, but many flies love it and rush to pollinate it. This can be regarded as a "smell of the same thing"!

After the flowering period, the rafflesia gradually wither, the color slowly turns black, and finally it will become a sticky black thing. However, the pollinated female flower will gradually form a rotten fruit over the next 7 months. The splendid flowers bear rotten fruits, which is also a wonder of the plant world.

Flower characteristics, Rafflesia flowers are bright in color, the flowers are covered with white spots, the diameter is about 1 meter, and they can only open once in a lifetime; morphological characteristics, it is a parasitic plant, without rhizomes and leaves, growing on vines, and maintaining growth by absorbing nutrients from other plants; Odor characteristics, the smell is more unpleasant, and it will attract insects to spread pollen through the smell; The distribution of production areas, mainly in Malaysia and Indonesia.

From the point of view of flowers, the flowers of Rafflesia are more vivid, the flowers are covered with white spots, the flowers grow more vigorously and larger, the diameter is about 1 meter, the weight is about 10 kilograms, a flower can only open once in a lifetime, and has a strong ornamental value.

From the perspective of morphological characteristics, Rafflesia is a parasitic plant, without rhizomes and leaves, and generally grows on vines, relying on absorbing nutrients from other plants. In addition, the seeds of Rafflesia are relatively small, so it is difficult to find them when they are not in bloom.

Rafflesia also has certain characteristics in the smell, although the color of the rafflesia flowers is more gorgeous, but the smell emitted is very pungent and unpleasant, this pungent rancid smell can attract insects such as stink bugs and flies to pass pollen for Rafflesia.

Rafflesia also has certain characteristics in the distribution of production areas, Rafflesia only grows in tropical rainforests in Malaysia, Indonesia and other places, at an altitude of 500 700 meters, and in other environments, Rafflesia will have poor growth and will be difficult to flower.

<> "In the tropical rainforest of Sumatra, Indonesia, a vine grows on a huge flower, which is called Rafflesia, which is up to one meter in diameter, as wide as a tabletop, and each petal is half a foot long and weighs 10 to 15 kilograms.

It has a heart as big as a basin and can hold 5 kilograms of water. Strangely, such a large flower has no stems and no leaves, and it only uses a flower stalk to suck on the parasitic taproot.

This flower can bloom for 1 month, and it is red and lacks yard color, with purple spots, which is very attractive. But when it withers, it emits a strong stench that is unbearable.

That's why it's called "corpse flower" because of the foul smell it emits, like a rotting corpse. It blooms only once in its lifetime.