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Rafflesia arnoldii flower.
Image: source.
The relatives of the largest and smelliest flower in the world, Rafflesia, have finally been found. This family, the Euphorbiaceae -- known for some of the smallest flowers in the world, too -- includes the poinsettia, Irish bells, the rubber tree, and…
There's No Scent Like Home: New Research Shows Larval Fish Use Smell To Return To Coral Reefs:
Tiny larval fish living among Australia's Great Barrier Reef spend the early days of their lives swept up in ocean currents that disperse them far from their places of birth. Given such a life history,…
There are a few plants and fungi that rely on extremely offensive odors to attract insects and spread its pollen or spores. These odors, to people, stink like decomposing, rotten meat, but to flies they are highly attractive.
The stinkhorn is a phallus-shaped mushroom which produces a sticky spore…
And such a wonderful* aroma as well!
*for certain definitions of wonderful. Your definition may wary
Don't they also stink of rotting meat though? Not sure your date would appreciate that.
That's what I'm talking about. Daddy like.
What are those two large things under it that look like they are wrapped in parchment?
It looks like it was perfectly designed for a human to put it's head in there ... I wonder if it's humanivorous as well as banananivorous?
Penguin > those are the buds
Looks less like a corsage and more like some kind of organic toilet made by forest elves.
Somehow I keep thinking of a large carnivorous plant named Audrey II . . .
The one at the Botanical Garden in DC has bloomed a couple of times in recent years and the lines to see it stretch around the block. People express great disappointment if they arrive before the stinkiness develops and they get to see, but not smell, the huge flower...
Nice balls.
Mighty fuck that thing is awesome. I really want to know how it evolved. I'm not finding much about its natural history in the internets.
Venusaur, I choose you!
Strangebeasty,
The paper you want is Barkman et al. PNAS 101(3): 787-792. I'm no botanist but its a fascinating story. Turns out the closest relatives of Rafflesia are the Malpighiales (violets and passionflowers and kin). Amongst these it seems to share some floral characteristics with passionflowers. The idea is that endoparisitic plants like Rafflesia may have evolved from a vine-like ancestor that became commensal and eventually parasitic on a host tree. Apparently there is one recorded example of a passionflower vine becoming parasitic.
@Adam Yates
Thank you! I'll see if I can get access to that paper!
blockquote>Don't they also stink of rotting meat though? Not sure your date would appreciate that.
How did Cat People end? Were there any children that would be in their late 20s to early 30s by now?
Curse you, evil blockquote fail!
Mattir, they have a rafflesia at the Nat'l Bot garden???! Holy shit, now I AM impressed. That's seriously hard to pull off!
You're thinking of Amorphophallus titanum, or Titan Arum, which is also stinky and pollinated by carrion insects, but otherwise unrelated. Last I heard, nobody has ever successfully cultivated Rafflesia arnoldii, though it has been attempted.
See also this from 2007:
http://www.scienceonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/315/5820/1812
Weirdly, the Rafflesiaceae falls out as an early-diverging branch within the Euphorbiaceae, the spurge or poinsettia family. The euphorbs proper are characterized by relatively insignificant flowers (the showy parts of poinsettia flowers are bracts-- modified leaves).
It is interesting thinking about plants that use sent to attract pollinators. Most have a sweet smell and offer a reward of sweet liquid to "pay" for the service. Seeing as how it was the insects bees that do this they could be seen as the ones selecting the smell and nectar flowers they like the best to pollinate. Before that what would flowering plants do that were not self-pollinating and did not just let the wind do it? Might not there have been plants that would have used the carrion smell first as there would have been plenty of that around and therefore plenty of carrion eaters. I guess smell does not fossilize very well.
It is not only carrion sent that is used, the Purple calla (Zantedscia var.) smells like rotten fruit.
I am great full that I have not had the pleasure of any flower that tries to attract roaches for pollinators.
uncle frogy
Gloom!
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gloom_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29
@Dr Matt
I stand corrected (obviously I was not one of the ones standing in line!). So all I've seen is the big plastic model of Rafflesia in the Bird House at the National Zoo. Phooey.
The Puffft! of all Knowledge seems to confirm that. I admit I confused it with Amorphophallus titanum, which I knew Kew (Royal Botanical Gardens) in London (at least) has successfully cultivated.
Although wasn't there some sense of dissapointment that Kew's didn't have the proper decaying meat smell?
I've seen a relative of R. arnoldii, R. kerrii, in the wild in Malaysia, they are very impressive in the (decaying) flesh, but would have been moreso were it not for my preoccupation with not dying of the heat and humidity at the time.
I'm definitely voting for the Titan Arum over the Rafflesia. Who wouldn't love a plant that smells like rotting flesh AND whose name means "huge, misshapen penis" in Latin?
Titan arum? Eh. OK, they're gorgeous big AND stinky, but they're a dime a dozen there days. I know of at least three public conservatories/arboreta that have had them in bloom within an hour's drive from me, and a couple of private collectors ditto.
I'll doff my hat to the first entity that produces a blooming Rafflesia, though. It's a root parasite, and IIRC the roots concerned are those of a tree. That's gonna take one hell of a setup.