Rafflesia-World Largest Flower

Rafflesia arnoldii is the world's largest individual flower. It is native to the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo.It is found Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.Rafflesia arnoldii is one of the three national flowers of Indonesia, the other two being the white jasmine (Jasminum sambac) and moon orchid (Phalaenopsis amabillis.It grows to a diameter(image) of around one meter (3.3 feet), weighing up to 11 kilograms.Known as the corpse flower due to its strong and unpleasant smell of decaying flesh. Rafflesia is considered as parasitic plant which means they depend on the other host plant for their nutrition and survival.Thriving in rainforests, Rafflesia is in danger of extinction due to habitat loss as well as poaching — its buds are harvested and sold for medicinal purposes. The plant cannot grow in captivity, as most occurrences of Rafflesia contain only either male or female flowers, pollinations is rare.

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