Rafflesia at Our Gunung Gading Natinal Park

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Only about an hour or more drive from Kuching beautiful city to Gunung Gading National Park.
Gunung Gading National Park is situated at Lundu District (a small town) is home to the world’s largest flower, the Rafflesia, a genus of parasitic flowering plants which can grow up to one metre in diameter.

According to it history, it was discovered in the Indonesian rain forest by an Indonesian guide working for Dr. Joseph Arnold in 1818, and named after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the leader of the expedition.
Rafflesia, the plant has no stems, leaves or true roots. It is an endoparasite of vines in the genus Tetrastigma (Vitaceae), spreading its root-like haustoria inside the tissue of the vine.


These are Rafflesia's buds.


The only part of the plant that can be seen outside the host vine is the five-petaled flower.


The flowers look and smell like rotting meat, hence its local names which translate to "corpse flower" or "meat flower".


The vile smell that the flower gives off attracts insects such as carrion flies, which transport pollen from male to female flowers.


They smell bad!


The center of a Rafflesia at the close up shot looks like sun.

http://jan-el.blogspot.com/2007/10/rafflesia-at-our-gunung-gading-national.html