Rafflesia
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| Rafflesia | |||||||||||||
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| Rafflesia arnoldii flower and bud | |||||||||||||
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Rafflesia has the biggest flowers in the world. The flowers can be one meter (three feet) across. The flower smells like a dead animal. The smell attracts flies. Bright spots in the flower attract the flies to come inside. The flies pollinate the Rafflesia.
Rafflesia is a parasite. A parasite depends on another living thing called a host. A parasite takes from the host and harms the host. A parasite gives nothing back. Green plants use chlorophyll to make their own food from air, water, and sunlight. Parasitic plants like Rafflesia are not green.
Rafflesia has no leaves, no stems, and no roots. The only part of Rafflesia that can be seen is the flower. The rest of the plant is a network of threads inside roots of the host plant. They take their food from host plants that are green. The host plants of Rafflesia are vines that grow in the rainforests of Southeast Asia.
[change] See also
- Amorphophallus titanum, similar smelling plant, sometimes known as "corpse flower".
- Parasitic plant
- Carrion plant
- Vileplume
[change] References
- Jamili Nais. Rafflesia of the world. ISBN 9838120421.
[change] Other websites
