Flowers have dotted Earth’s landscape for millions of years, due in no small part to their simple manipulative evolutionary innovation. Using color and scent to trick insects and animals into doing their bidding has persisted and proven to be highly effective. Today, flowering plants are among the most diverse classes of life on the planet, and the exceedingly massive ones show just how far the adaptations have been pushed.
From the infamous, three-feet-in-diameter “monster flower” to a type of lily pad so large it can easily hold a small child, here are eight of the biggest flowers in the world.
Among all of the large flowers, Rafflesia arnoldi produces the biggest single bloom. Native to the rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia, where it is one of three national flowers, the so-called “monster flower” can grow up to three feet in diameter and weigh up to 15 pounds.
More than its size, though, Rafflesia is known for its scent. It sometimes shares the common name “corpse flower” with another giant bloom, Amorphophallus titanum, because they both reek of rotting meat—an adaptation they developed to attract flies, which help pollinate the plants. The monster flower grows only on the tendrils of the Tetrastigma vine, which in turn only grows in pristine rainforest. This means the unusual bloom’s habitat is rapidly disappearing.
Image courtesy by treehugger.com
Bestowing a “largest flower” title is not always as simple as measuring petals or the diameter of a single flower. Indeed, Amorphophallus titanum—having an inflorescence that can grow 10 feet in height—is not small by any definition. But unlike Rafflesia, this large rainforest gem is composed of hundreds of small buds on a single stalk.
Read more at:https://www.treehugger.com/biggest-flowers-on-earth-4859257
