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The Corpse Flower

Diperbarui: 7 September 2015   14:44

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A bit confusing at first but the title for corpse flower has 2 candidates.RafflesiaArnoldi is Indonesia’s 3rd national flower. It is infamous for the bad odor it ejects identical to mid decomposing bodies. The rotten smell functions to attract flies and beetles that carry the pollen from male flowers to female. The fruit is eaten, digested with the seed discarded away by tree shrews. Successful pollination is rare as the flower only lasts for a few days after taking 3 months to grow, also a reason why spotting one in the woods is uncommon. This and the decline of rainforests in Borneo sadly contribute to thedecrease of their numbers.

The endemic factor of Rafflesia being able to grow only in tropical rainforests creates a harder situation to spread the flower. Bengkulu a city that naturally grows rafflesia has made vast efforts to preserve it. In 2010 Kebun Raya Bogor 60km south of Jakarta, has successfully grown the flower outside of its natural habitat or ex-situ.  The corpse flower is up for display so that many can admire its beauty and… smell.

Rafflesia was first founded in Sumatra, Indonesia in 1818 by a British botanist Joseph Arnold who died from fever not long after, unable to finish his drawing of it which was completed by Lady Raffles. Thus the name Rafflesia Arnoldii was given which was officially used 3 years later.

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The other corpse flower is Amorphophallus which also lets out a decaying smell in order to attract insects during pollination. There are 25 species in Indonesia. One of them, the Amorphophallus ‘titanium’ meaning giant in greek can stand tall up to 2.5 meters while being 1.5 m wide. The spadix resembles a pencil covered by it's leaves. Ironicallly Amophophallus in greek is misshapen penis. Similar to Rafflesia in that they are both endemic and can be found in Kebun raya bogor.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphophallus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphophallus_titanum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafflesia_arnoldii

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafflesia

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