Where the largest flower in the world grows. What is the name of the largest flower in the world. The tallest flower


When the word "flowers" is usually something elegant, colorful and fragrant. However, in nature, not all flowering plants are diminutive, there are also large specimens, and some are so large that it is hard to even imagine.

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They are found as perennial herbaceous plants or shrubs of small and medium size. Large, heavy flowers often need support. Blooms in late spring - early summer.

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In some species of this tropical plant - shrubs and trees growing in the wild - the diameter of the trunk is approximately equal to the girth of a human leg. Hibiscus are known for their large flowers in a variety of colors, such as red, yellow or orange.

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Although clematis is a fairly common flowering plant, not everyone knows that some of its species are impressive in size, for example, perennial climbing vines with large flowers of various colors.

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This flowering plant is widespread in Asian countries - Japan, China, Indonesia and Korea. Despite the large number of diverse species, most hydrangeas are shrubs 1–3 m high with large inflorescences.

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Unlike other large flowering plants mentioned above, the sunflower is not a rare species - it is often found in a wide variety of natural areas. The apical inflorescences of this annual plant are quite large, and the stem can reach 3.5 m in height.

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Usually found in Bolivia and Peru. This species, also known as the Queen of the Andes, was first discovered in 1830 by the French naturalist Alcide d'Orbigny. The flower stalk of Puyi Raimondi can grow up to 10 m in height!

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A marine flowering herbaceous plant that can often be found in the Mediterranean Sea. It is also known under another name - the herb of Neptune. Posidonia has long leaves, similar to ribbons 7 to 10 mm wide, and its fruits resemble unripe olives in appearance.

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Known as the talipot fan palm, this plant is native to India and Sri Lanka. It is considered the largest palm tree in nature - the stem of the plant can reach a height of 25 m. Corypha umbellata blooms only once at the age of 30 to 80 years.

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Another large flower with an unpleasant odor - Arnold's rafflesia, grows only in tropical rainforests. The plant is similar to Titan Arum and is also often referred to as "corpse lily" because of its putrid odor. Rafflesia is considered one of the national symbols of Indonesia. The mass of a flower can reach 11 kg.

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This plant, also known as Titan Arum, has one of the largest inflorescences in the world. During the flowering period, the diameter of the bedspread, similar to a giant petal, reaches 1.2 m. The aroma of Titan Arum flowers resembles the smell of rotten meat, which is why it is often called the "corpse plant" or "corpse flower". The plant can grow up to 3 m! They say that amorphophalluses bloom once every 7-10 years, or they may never bloom at all.

... which flower is the largest in the world?

It is hard to believe that the world's largest flower is a plant taller than a man, foul-smelling like a decaying dead animal, and having the dark red color of a rotting body. But the Indonesian Amorphophallus Titanum, or “cadaverous flower,” as the locals call it, is a reality, a phenomenon pollinated in natural conditions by carrion-seeking insects.

These plants not only live in the wild, but many have bloomed in the past few years in botanical gardens around the world. The last of these, causing a great uproar, bloomed for the first time in public in Washington. The public interest in the life of the flower is so high that the Botanical Garden has established a hotline with records of updated information on the progress of the flower.

A mature "corpse" flower emerges from a huge tuber stored underground once every three years. To produce this gigantic, ornate inflorescence, the plant makes a lot of effort. When young, the plant develops a single leaf, which can reach the size and appearance of a small tree with many leaves. However, in preparation for several days of flowering, the plant must shed its leaf and remain dormant for more than 4 months to store energy.

An adult eight-year-old flower is usually 1.82 m tall. However, in May 2003, an inflorescence appeared in Bonn that reached a height of 2.74 m. The previous record was set in 1932, when a flower in Holland reached 2.67 m in height.

According to scientists, this giant flower also changes the temperature of the environment. The experiment was carried out at night. From 20 degrees the temperature in the room rose to 32°C. The increase in temperature occurred from 23:00 to 3–4:00 in the morning, when the temperature again dropped to 20 degrees.

Italian botanists first recorded a plant of this class in 1878. The first such flower grown in captivity was cultivated in the English Royal Botanic Gardens in 1889, causing such a sensation in society that it took police to control the crowd.

In recent years, the rainforests of Sumatra have suffered from civilization and pollution, and it is not known how many flowers of this species have died. Indonesian experts believe the flowers are in danger. One fact is reassuring: such a huge interest in this unusual plant makes scientists grow it in artificial conditions.

By the way, the weight of a flower can reach 75 kg.

In the Bogor Botanical Garden, located near the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, founded by the Dutch colonialists, the largest flower in the world, Amorphophallus titanium, bloomed on July 7. It is not easy to translate its name from learned Latin so that it can be pronounced in a decent society. A fairly rough translation would sound like this: "Shapeless titanic phallus." However, to put it very precisely, then our hero is the largest inflorescence in the world, not a flower. Among the flowers, the palm belongs to the giant Rafflesia arnoldi, reaching a meter in diameter, whose homeland is located in the same place as that of amorphophallus - in the jungle of the western part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, which is one of the world record holders for biological diversity. However, rafflesia, although large, but all however, it is significantly inferior in size to amorphophallus, sometimes growing up to three and a half meters in height. And the difference between an inflorescence and a flower can still be understood only by a professional botanist.

We all remember the fairy tale "Thumbelina". A little girl was born from a flower. He must have seemed huge to her. But this is fiction, a fantasy. Are there really big flowers on our planet? Of course have. What Mother Nature hasn't come up with!

Rafflesia Arnoldi

This is the largest flower in the world. He cannot be found equal in the whole world. This plant belongs to the Rafflesia family, which has about 30 species.

Interestingly, Rafflesia arnóldii (Rafflésia arnóldii) - the largest flower in the world - can only be found in the jungle on the island of Kalimantan and Sumatra - the largest islands of the Malay Archipelago, which, in turn, is the largest archipelago in the world. How nature brought together all the very best! Unfortunately, today this miracle is becoming rarer. The giant Rafflesia Arnoldi is on the brink of extinction.

Other species of this family grow in areas of Southeast Asia - in the Philippines, in Indonesia, on the island of Java.

The miracle plant got its name in honor of two scientists:

  • Joseph Arnold, an English physician who discovered the huge flower while working in Sumatra. Although it is reliably known that the miracle plant was shown to Arnold by a local resident, whose name remained unknown;
  • Raffles Stamford, a naturalist who studied and described the new species.

The flower core has the form of a bowl with high sides and a diameter of up to 1 meter (the largest known specimen had a core diameter of 1.6 meters). During tropical downpours, the core bowl collects 7-9 liters of rainwater. Around it are five petals 0.5 meters long and up to 5 cm thick. The total weight of the flower reaches 10 kg!

The natives call it "lotus flower", "corpse line" or "carrion lily", because the smell of the flower is terrible. A kilometer away from him smells of rotten meat. This exclusive "flavor" attracts flies that pollinate Rafflesia Arnoldi.

Locals use the plant to make medicinal infusions. They are drunk by men to restore potency, and women - to maintain a good figure.

A very interesting cycle of development of the largest flower in the world. Seeds (very small, it is difficult to even see them, up to 4 million seeds ripen in one plant) penetrate under the bark of the "host" and freeze for 18 months. After a year and a half, they wake up and release thin suction cups, with the help of which they begin to feed on the juice of the mother plant. Gradually, a thickening-kidney is formed at the site of seed introduction. The kidney grows and transforms into a large bud. This process takes 3 long years. The bud also opens very slowly - another 9-18 months. But the “corpse lily” blooms for only 4-5 days, turning afterward into a black shapeless mass that stores seeds in itself. Animals that step on Rafflesia fruits carry the seeds throughout the rainforest.

Here is such an amazing largest flower in the world - Rafflesia Arnoldi!

What are the largest flowers growing on Earth? Amorphophallus Titanium is a perennial plant belonging to the Aroid family, which has more than 3000 species. The flower comes from the tropics, from the island of Sumatra. Unfortunately, today it can no longer be found there, as people have completely exterminated the outlandish plant. It has been preserved as a species in several large botanical gardens and scientific biological centers.

Amorphophallus grows from a huge tuber. The plant has a short powerful stem and a single giant leaf several meters wide, up to 3 meters long and 10 cm thick. This amazing representative of the flora blooms once every 7-10 years. Before that, sheds a leaf and falls into "hibernation" for 3-4 months, gaining strength and nutrients. And then Amorphophallus throws out a flower.

The inflorescence of this plant is one of the largest in the world. It reaches a height of 3 meters, a width of 1.5 meters. It looks like a huge yellow cob. In its lower part, the flower itself is located in the form of a corrugated burgundy-purple cape. Another unique feature of the plant is that it heats up to 40 ° C during flowering.

Flowering lasts only 1-2 weeks. Because of its rarity and spectacle, the bloom of Amorphophallus is a big event in the world of botany. Tourists also do not want to miss such a moment, coming from all over the world to take a selfie next to an amazing flower.

The plant has only one, but a very significant drawback: it strongly stinks of rotten eggs, rotten fish and meat. For this deadly "aroma", which simply eats away the eyes, the flower is called "rotting" or "corpse".

This plant is not a flower, but I would like to mention it due to the fact that its inflorescence is the largest in the world. It has a height of more than 10 meters with a diameter of more than 2 meters! Consists of 12-15 thousand tiny flowers. Puya Raymonda throws out a peduncle and bears fruit only 1 time in 80-150 years of life, after which it dies, leaving behind 10-12 million ripe seeds. They are carried around by the wind, but germinate from the entire huge amount of no more than 3-5 seeds. Puya grows in isolation, per 1 sq. km of range accounts for only 1 plant. So they stand, huge lonely candles, in Peru, in Bolivia and in the Andes.

Puya belongs to the Bromeliad family, which has a record number of species - more than two thousand! Named after the naturalist Anthony Raimondi, who devoted his whole life to the study and description of this plant.
Puya Raymonda took another gold medal for herself - this plant is the oldest living on the planet. Scientists have nicknamed it "plant-dinosaur." According to rough estimates, the species is several million years old.

When the first European explorers crossed the jungles of Sumatra in the 19th century, they were amazed by the flowers, the size of a large wheel, that seemed to lie directly on the ground. The flowers had fleshy, juicy red petals with white growths on the surface, resembling a piece of rotting meat. At the bottom of his cup was found, which could fill a small saucepan. A cadaverous smell spread from the flower. Both its color and specific aroma are designed to attract insects that feed on predatory flowers. Rafflesia arnoldi is the largest flower in the world.
The plant got its name thanks to its discoverers - biologist Arnold and officer Raffles.

Amorphophallus giant (Amorphophalus titanum)

Also, another huge flower grows in Sumatra - giant amorphophallus. It is the largest flower in the world and can reach 3m in height. Like rafflesia, amorphophallus spreads the smell of rotten flesh, which attracts all kinds of insects that feed on carrion.
Amorphophallus blooms within 2-3 days, 3-4 times in 40 years of existence.

The giant purple petals are actually a bract (protective leaf). It can be up to 1.2 m in diameter and 1.3 m in height. A huge inflorescence grows from a tuber weighing up to 100 kg. On the giant "trunk" in the middle of the flower (the so-called cob) there are flowers, both and.

Fan palm (Corypha umbraculifera)

The largest inflorescence is found in the fan palm (Corypha umbraculifera), native to southern India and Ceylon. The leaves of the plant reach 25 m in height, stems up to 1.3 m in diameter, and inflorescences 6-8 m in length. They consist of several million small flowers attached to a branched stem at the top of the trunk. The fan palm is only once in its life between the ages of 30 and 80.

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