Rafflesia Arnoldi Successfully Blooms for the First Time Outside Its Habitat

The Rafflesia Arnoldi flower is a giant flower that has wide red petals with white spots scattered around the petals. Rafflesia Arnoldi is a parasitic plant that enters protected plants. Based on Government Regulation No. 4 of 1999 and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species with endangered conservation status. The diameter of Rafflesia Arnoldi can reach 70-110 cm and weigh up to 11 kg. The growth period of this giant lotus can take up to 9 months. The blooming period of this flower takes about 5-7 days, then this giant lotus will wither and die.

Thomas Stamford Raffles with his assistant named Joseph Arnoldi in 1818, first discovered this rare puspa in the Bengkulu Forest, Sumatra. Thanks to this discovery, the flower has the name Rafflesia Arnoldi according to the names of their discoverers, namely Raffles and Arnold. In 2004, researchers started research and conservation of the Rafflesia Arnoldi flower in the Bogor Botanical Gardens. Until September 12, 2022, this rare flower bloomed outside its habitat for the first time.

The blooming of the Rafflesia Arnoldi flower for the first time at the Bogor Botanical Gardens suddenly became the spotlight of the visitors. This is a very rare moment. The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) conducts 24-hour supervision to observe the development of rare blooms in the Bogor Botanical Gardens.

Rafflesia Arnoldi is difficult to cultivate.
According to Sofi Mursidawati, a researcher from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), cultivating this giant lotus is very difficult. The reason is that researchers cannot manipulate the pollination process of these flowers. Then there is no technology capable of intervening flower fertilization. The difficulty of cultivating this rare puspa is getting worse because of the decreasing population of this flower. This can happen because researchers have not been able to find aspects of biological life in this flower. Lack of supervision over the existence of this flower is also a factor in population decline.

It is still common to see the destruction of this protected rare puspa. Starting from wild animals and even human hands, but there have been no sanctions because there is no legal umbrella. Therefore, the Conservation Strategy and Action Plan (SRAK) to protect this flower requires community involvement to preserve the Bengkulu icon.

Rafflesia Arnoldi in the Bogor Botanical Gardens Only Blooms for 3 Days.
In its natural habitat, Bengkulu forest, the Rafflesia Arnoldi flower is very dependent on its host plant. The host plant is the Tetrastigma plant species or vine. In the Bogor Botanical Gardens, this flower grows and attaches to its host, a forest vine of the Tetrastigma lanceolarium (Roxb.) Planch type, which has been around for 69 years. The host where this giant padma grows is a plant from the Bogor Botanical Gardens. This tree was obtained through exchange of seeds with one of the Botanical Gardens in Latin America. Sofi said that this rare puspa that grows in the Bogor Botanical Gardens has a diameter of about 30 cm. Then this giant padma has not fully bloomed or is only around 70-80 percent.

Even though the Bogor Botanical Gardens have replicated an ecosystem that is almost similar to its natural habitat, this rare giant flower only blooms for 3-4 days. Many factors cause these flowers to not last long, such as weather, genetics, and a combination of these factors. The rainy season makes the rainfall in Bogor high. This could be the reason why this giant lotus cannot bloom perfectly in the Bogor Botanical Gardens as it does in its natural habitat, Bengkulu forest, Sumatra. This can be seen because the inside of this flower has been submerged in a lot of water when the flower blooms. So it is possible that this flower cannot bloom for a long time.