The Corpse Flower

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Anthophyta

Class: Magnoliopsida

Order: Rafflesiales

Family: Rafflesiaceae

Genus: Rafflesia

Species: arnoldii

Description

Rafflesia arnoldii, known commonly as the Corpse Flower (not to be confused with Amorphophallus titanum, a flower by the same common name) is a red, five pedaled, parasitic flower with white spots that can grow up to one meter in diameter and 11 kilograms in weight. It is known to be the world's largest flower. It is found in southeast Asia in jungles, usually as a parasite on Tetrastigma which it is dependent on for nutrients. 

The plant creates no leaves, stems, or roots, but does produce a fruit that is 15 cm in diameter and holds thousands of seeds. The middle of the plant is shaped like a basket and holds numerous spikes with an unknown function as well as several gallons of nectar. The middle omits a horrible smell that attracts flies that pollinate the plant, which has both male and female genders.

Reproduction

The bud the plant starts off as lasts for about 9 months before blooming into the humongous flower, which itself lasts only 5 to 7 days. The flower can theoretically be reproducing constantly during that period, but unfortunately reproduction is difficult since the flowers are unisex, which means pollinators have to visit both the male and female flowers, very rare considering finding one flower alone is pretty rare and two opposite sex flowers being open at the same time and pollinators finding them both before they close and die is really rare. Taking this into account it is no wonder the flowers are endangered. The flower has an r reproductive strategy because, like almost plants, it cannot possibly care for its young so it makes thousands of seeds in case that reproduction does happen so it can make a lot more plants.

Ecosystem

Rafflesia arnoldii is completely dependent on a vine called Tetrastigma, which is related to the grapevine. It feeds on it as a parasite and doesn't get its own nutrients, and therefore does not make roots, leaves, or even chlorophyll. The flower has very little predators because of its horrible smell and how rare it is, but humans may be considered predators for using parts of it for medicine. Other organisms in its ecosystem known for helping it spread are flies and tree shrews, which feed on its fruit and pick up seeds.

Sun >>> Tetrastigma >>> Rafflesia >>> Humans

Threats and Solutions

Rafflesia arnoldii is threatened by its horrible reproduction strategy which only gets worse as its population declines. The amount of left in the world is unknown but is expected to be nearing extinction. It is estimated around 3000 flowers left for all Rafflesia combined, including arnoldii. If the current situation doesn't change the population will keep dropping and the flower will go extinct. At this point, no Rafflesia have been cultivated in a lab or garden, which is distressing because that seems to be the first step to saving the Rafflesia: cultivate them in a closed space where pollinators can have an easier time finding two flowers. If such an environment was possible to create, population growth/decline would have to be measured daily as to not miss any flowers that may only last for less than a week. The team that would need to be put together to do this would have to have be relatively big, with maybe 50 bioconservationalists.

Works Cited

"Genus Rafflesia." Genus Rafflesia. Earlham College, 2003. Web. 10 May 2016.<http://legacy.earlham.edu/~givenbe/Rafflesia/rafflesia/biodiv2.htm>.

"Rafflesia Arnoldii (corpse Flower)." Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Kew, n.d. Web. 10 May 2016.<http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/rafflesia-arnoldii-corpse-flower>.

"Rafflesia." Rafflesia, The World's Largest Bloom. RafflesiaFlower.com, n.d. Web. 10 May 2016.<http://www.rafflesiaflower.com/>.

"Rafflesia." Rafflesia WWF. WWF, 2016. Web. 9 May 2016.<http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/teacher_resources/best_place_species/current_top_10/ra fflesia.cfm>.