What strange gigantic flower is here
That shows its lonesome pallid face
Where neither stems nor leaves appear
J. Hunt Cooke
The rare giant rafflesia grows only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
The biggest single flower in the world, it belongs to a parasitic plant which is usually totally hidden from view inside the host, the only visible part being the flower. As the poem above describes, there are no leaves or stems, nor true roots.
The flowers do not bloom for long so we were lucky to find one fully open. The flower that we saw was about 50cm (almost 20in) wide and they can grow to be a metre (38in) in diameter.
The photo above shows the various stages of the flower; the tiny buds will open into the full flower and the black patches on the ground are old, decayed blooms.
The rafflesia is known as the corpse flower because of the stench of rotting flesh that it gives off in order to attract the carrion flies which pollinate it. They fly into its gaping maw and receive pollen on their backs when they crawl under the central disc. Surely it cannot be a coincidence that the thick, brownish-red petals look like decomposing flesh as well as smelling like it.
They are a rather alien, unsettling sight, but strangely beautiful nonetheless.