#rafflesia — Public Fediverse posts

The Guardians of Earth’s Most Grotesque Flowers
https://atmos.earth/rafflesia-guardians-give-endangered-corpse-flower-new-life/

"A motley crew of #Rafflesia enthusiasts are racing against the clock to save the #CorpseFlower—the largest flower in the world—from #extinction... Each species smells different—#botanists don’t know why—and each #flower is either female or male and needs to bloom simultaneously with its counterpart to reproduce in 24 hours before it starts rotting. Nobody can predict where, when, and if it’ll bloom again after that."

Save This Stinking Flower!

https://nautil.us/save-this-stinking-flower-405271/

#Biology #Biodiversity #ConservationBiology #Rafflesia #Conservation #Botanics #PlantScience

#Nature .. “We urgently need a joined-up, cross-regional approach to save some of the world’s most remarkable #flowers, most of which are now on the brink of being lost,” ~Dr Chris Thorogood, from the University of Oxford Botanic Garden

Article and photos of #Rafflesia. #Parasitic plant known as the #CorpseFlower

#endangered #conservation #flora #flower

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/20/the-worlds-largest-and-stinkiest-flower-in-danger-of-extinction-rafflesia-aoe

#Philippines research offers hope for conserving enigmatic Rafflesia #plants https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/philippines-research-offers-hope-for-conserving-enigmatic-rafflesia-plants/

The seed #transcriptome of Rafflesia reveals #HorizontalGeneTransfer and convergent #evolution: Implications for conserving the world's largest flower: Jeanmaire Molina et al. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ppp3.10370

"They found no genes pointing to a symbiotic relationship between #Rafflesia and #fungi, suggesting that unlike #orchids, Rafflesia may not need nutrients from fungi for successful germination."

#December 12, 1912
#OTD In The #Chattanooga #News:
"Q. What is the largest #Flower in the world?
A. Arnold's #Rafflesia - Discovered in #Sumatra (1818). The entire flower measures about a yard across & weighs about 15 lbs."

The Rafflesia arnoldii honors two men: Sir Stamford #Raffles (#Expedition #Leader) & his friend, James Arnold (#Naturalist & #Botanist), who died shortly after #Discovering the #Putrid #Bloom, which looks & smells like rotting flesh - thus the name #Corpse or #Meat flower.