The vast archipelago and the great number of islands has made Indonesia the home of a large variety of plant life. The Indonesian flora ranges from the tiny orchid the giant rafflesia plant. No wonder many botanist are curious to study these plans.
The rafflesia arnoldi is the biggest flower in the world. It is unusual because of its large size. It has a flower almost a meter in diameter and 1.40 meters in height.
"Rafflesia" is derived from the name of the British Governor General Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, who once governed and built the Botanical Garden in Bogor. Though it is called Rafflesia after Raffles, the man who discovered the plant was Beccary, an Italian botanist who visited Sumatera in 1928.
Rafflesia consists of two parts: the stick-like part which grows in the middle and the petals around and below it.
The Rafflesia plant begins to flower in its tenth year. It blooms three or four times a year. Before it begins to flower, the leaves and the stem become dry and look dead, but the main root in the ground is still alive.
While the flower is blossoming, it has a very unpleasant smell which attracts insects, especially green flies. They seem eager to explore the flower. But if the flies touch the bottom part of the stick, like center, they die.
The Rafflesia has a very unpleasant smell. Some people said it's like the smell of a dead animal. Because of that bad smell, the people in Indonesia often call it as "bunga bangkai" which means "flower of the dead"
