The corpse flower, the largest and smelliest in the world, is native to Indonesia, and no, it is not a flower from Alice in Wonderland’s garden, much less from the Jurassic world where Ice Age SID was discovered. Much less, a huge flower worthy of Tim Burton’s most psychedelic film. Contrary to what you might think, giant plants are still present in our times and some of them are not carnivorous but it does seem that they have eaten many because of their dead smell, but in reality, it is a defense mechanism.
Corpse Flower: Plants Also Have Their Tricks
The corpse flower is a species native to the jungles of Sumatra, in Indonesia, which can reach up to 2.7 meters in height, the measurements of the specimen that has been displayed in the Botanical Garden of the University of Bonn (Germany) since 2003. However, The corpse flower (Rafflesia tuan-mudae) as it is colloquially known grows in the jungles of Asia. Especially, deep in Indonesia and Malaysia.
One of the surprising things is: that the flower deploys a spathe that, at the same time, supports the opening of the spadix, similar to a mauve spike. This flowering only takes place three or four times throughout the forty years that the plant lives, the growth phase being the most interesting aspect of the flower.
During this growth, in which the spadix progressively takes shape, the flower emits a pestilent aroma that reaches a radius of almost 2 kilometers, making it unbearable for the very presence of human beings. The smell, neither more nor less, has the function of attracting pollinating insects that usually lay their eggs on rotting meat, the same smell that a plant acquires that overheats its leaves (it can reach up to 36º C) and, instinctively, expels trying to attract insects that ensure the continuation of the species.
Despite this, since it does not have leaves, the corpse flower does not carry out photosynthesis. On the contrary, they obtain all the nutrients they need from the trees and pods in which they live. Currently, the species is in danger of extinction due to excessive and indiscriminate deforestation in Sumatra.
This story was written in Spanish by Perla Vallejo in Ecoosfera
