OLogy Cards > Rafflesia arnoldii

Rafflesia arnoldii

The world's largest flower grows in the rainforests of Southeast Asia. But its enormous, bright red bloom does not fill the air with a sweet aroma. In fact, the Rafflesia arnoldii is known as the "corpse flower" because it smells like dead flesh. And unlike most plants, this flower does not use energy from the Sun to make its own food. Instead, it is a parasite: it gets all its nutrients and water from a host, a vine in the grape family.

Stats

Stumper

Why do corpse flowers smell like rotting meat?

to attract egg-laying flies

to attract meat-eating mammals

to repel plant-eating animals

Correct!

This scent attracts carrion flies, which lay their eggs in decaying dead animals. Since male flowers may bloom far from females in the rainforest, they need help from carrion flies to spread their pollen.

Stumper

The corpse flower is a parasite. Parasite comes the Greek word parasitos, which means:

someone who cuts down grape vines

someone who eats at another's table

someone who lives in a rainforest

Correct!

In nature, a parasite is an unwelcome dinner guest! Rather than making or gathering their own food, they let other organisms do the work.

Fact or Fiction

When it's not in bloom, the corpse flower is barely visible because it has no stem, leaves, or roots.

Fact

Fiction

Fact

Besides the flower, the plant is made up of strands of tissue that run between the cells of its host. It doesn't need the other parts because it gets everything it needs from its host!

Fact or Fiction

Millions of years ago, the ancestors of the corpse flower were much larger than they are today.

Fact

Fiction

Its flowers are actually about 80 times larger than they were 46 million years ago. The flower of its ancestors was only about 1/4 inch wide!

Image credits: main image, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

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