The world's biggest single flower comes from a plant that spends most of its life unseen.This is because the plant called rafflesia, is a parasite.It lives in the jungles of Malaysia ,inside the roots of tropical vines, and is visible only when it blooms once a year.The first sign of a rafflesia flower comes in the form of a fleshy cabbage-like bud ,which slowly erupts out of the ground.This gradually opens to form an immense reddish brown bowl,ringed by rubbery white and purple petals .The flower can be upto 1m across and weigh 7 kg.It has a powerful ordor of rotting flesh, which attracts flies in their thousands.
Once pollinated, the rafflesia flower forms a large squashy fruit filled with seeds.This must then await the heavy tread of a large animal, such as a rhinoceros or elephant.When the fruit is trodden on ,it bursts, and the seeds stick to the animal's feet.
As the animal moves through the jungle,the rafflesia seeds get pushed into the soil .In this way they stand a good chance of being planted near the roots of another host vine, so that the process of parasitic life can start again.
