Rafflesia Arnoldi

People spent a lot of money on flowers. They decorate their houses with flowers because flowers make gardens attractive and beautiful.

If we visit the botanical garden in Bogor, we will see many kinds of interesting flowers, such as cactuses, ferns, water lilies, orchids and others. Among those flowers there is a very strange flower which is called “Rafflesia Arnoldi”. This is flower is the biggest in the world. When it blooms, it can reach one meter in diameter and 1.40 meters in height.

The plant was discovered by Beccary, an Italian botanist, when he visited Sumatra. However, it was Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles, the British Governor General, who built the Botanical Garden in Bogor where we can see this flower now. That is why this flower is called Rafflesia Arnoldi.

The plant produces flower once in ten years. It blooms three or four times a year. Before producing flowers, the stem becomes dry. It looks dead, but the main root in the ground is alive. It was very unpleasant smell while the flower is blossoming. It attracts green flies to come near. If the flies touch the bottom part the stick-like centre, they will die.