When we were in Cameron Highlands in Malaysia ,we went
on a 10km trek into the rainforest to glimpse this flower.A parasitic
flower to be precise.Its called the Rafflesia and is the largest flower in the world. The whole
process of the blooming of the flower from a small mound to its fully bloomed
state takes about 9 months.And it stays in its bloomed state (like you see in the picture) for about 7
days tops after which it decays.Its a poisonous flower but some tribal groups boil the petals of
the flower and drink the water after pregnancy to tighten the loose skin.We managed to catch the flower you see on the 5th day.
If you look closely , you can see one of the petals decaying already.The first picture is of a flower which had just bloomed. It was about 850mm in diameter and one of the biggest this season. The world record for the biggest rafflesia is currently at about 1000mm.Another species of the rafflesia is also found in Indonesia but is said to have a really horrible smell of rotten meat. The ones we saw in Malaysia were actually nice smelling.Will add more pics of the different stages of the flower growth later.
Hope you enjoyed the biology lesson !
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