Record measurements of flowers

The world of creatures has huge flower species as high as 9 -10 m but there are also flowers that contain flower clusters, only . 1 mm in size!

When adventurers crossed the primeval forests of Sumatra in the 19th century, they were surprised to see large flowers like wheels lying on the ground. This flower has succulent petals with brilliant reds and very delicate golden spots .

Rafflesia arnoldi flower - unique flower

. That is Rafflesia arnoldi Flower. Lying on the sepals are their reproductive organs. And under the calyx are countless pollen, if you take them out, you can fill a small vase. And, paradoxically, the opposite of its glamorous beauty is . a stench of scent like a corpse! But it is this stench and its color are attractive agents of insects that serve their pollination. This flower is called Rafflesia arnoldi.

This is the largest and most unique flower in the world: with a diameter of up to 1.5m, a circumference of 3-4m and weighing up to 10-12 kg. They live in tropical forests in Sumatra and Borneo in Southeast Asia. It is strange that Rafflesia has such big flowers but it does not have stems, roots and leaves! It lives parasitic on a vine species (Tetrastigma). With such characteristics, it is difficult to see which plant species it was until a recent DNA analysis yielded a surprising result: it belongs to the tree of the almighty family ( Euphorbiaceae), a family of plants with tiny flowers! The most common trees of this family are rubber trees, cassava and giant trees.

Rafflesia arnoldi flowers (Photo: greenpeace)

Talipot palm flower - flower cluster with the largest branch in the world

The world's largest branched inflorescences belong to the Talipot palm tree (Corypha umbraculifera) native to southern India and Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka).

This giant palm tree is up to 25m tall, the trunk is 1.3m in diameter, the leaves like hands spread out up to 5m in diameter and 4m long stalks. It has one of the largest inflorescence of all plants. This inflorescence to 6-8m long consists of several million small flowers growing on flower branches located at the top of the stem. Talipot palm trees only bloom once when it is about 30 to 80 years old.

Puya raymondi - the world's largest pineapple flower species

Another giant flower cluster is the Puya raymondi, a member of the Bromeliaceae family (the plants that have the same family name as the pineapple). This is also the largest tree in the pineapple family: its trunk is 3 m tall and its flower is 9-10m high. It lives only in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia at an altitude of 3200-4800 m and can live for 100 years but only blooms once in a lifetime. Then a Puya raymondi tree had about 20,000 flowers and produced about 10 million seeds.

(Photo: andeantravelweb.com)

Wolffia arrhiza - the smallest flower in the world

In contrast to the above flowers, the smallest flowers in the world belong to aquatic plants called Wolffia arrhiza. They are free-floating stalks on water that are green or yellow-green and do not have roots, 1-5mm long. Sometimes it blooms small clusters of flowers and 1 male flower. The whole flower cluster with the largest size is only 1mm!

(Photo: oregonstate)

Giant calf tree - looks like flowers but not really flowers!

In the Sumatra forest there is also a giant calf plant (Amorphophalus titaum). It is 3m tall, has relatives with taro trees and other calf plants. This flower plant grows from a 100kg tuber buried in the ground.

This giant calf only blooms for 2-3 days and only hatches 3-4 times during 40 years of existence. What looked like giant petals connected to each other was a purple leaf (a shield) that was purple. It has a diameter of 1.2m and a height of 1.3m. Located in the middle of it is a large flower stalk bearing a small cluster of unbranched flowers, including male and female flowers. These flowers also smell rotten flesh and the same stench has attracted flies and beetles to help them carry out the pollination process.

(Photo: Cityofseattle.net)

Minh Minh