The Largest Flowers In The World Weigh More Than Humans
The corpse flower (Rafflesia arnoldii) and titan arum are two of the best (Amorphophallus titanum). lison Druhan / Shubert Ciencia / Shubert Ciencia
Flowering plants are among the most diverse forms of life on Earth, and the ones with the largest flowers demonstrate how far adaptations have progressed.
From the three-foot-diameter “corpse flower” to a type of magnolia with a flower larger than a grown man’s hand, here are five of the world’s largest flowers.
Corpse Flower (Rafflesia arnoldii)
For scale, a corpse flower and a cell phone. Photographer: ntoine Hubert
Rafflesia arnoldii, one of Indonesia’s three national flowers, is a member of the monster flower genus and is known for producing the largest individual flower on Earth. Its fully developed flower is visible above ground as a thick fleshy five-lobed structure weighing up to 11 kg (24 pounds) and measuring approximately one yard (almost one meter) across.
The enormous flowers emerge from very large, cabbage-like buds that measure 12 inches (30 cm) in diameter on average, but the largest (and largest flower bud ever recorded) was found at Mount Sago, Sumatra in May 1956 and measured 17 inches (43 cm) across.
The corpse flower blooms for five to seven days, emitting a foul odor that attracts flies and beetles, which are thought to be pollinators.
A fly aiding in the pollination of a corpse flower. Photographer: Paul Williams
Rafflesia arnoldii is a parasite that can only be seen outside the host plant when it is ready to reproduce, with the enormous flowers being the only part of the plant that is distinguishably plant-like. It can only be found on the tendrils of the Tetrastigma vine, which can only be found in pristine rainforest. This means that the world’s largest flower’s habitat is rapidly disappearing.
Titan Αrum (Αmorphophallus titanum)
Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) is endemic to the rainforests of western Sumatra, Indonesia, and can grow to be 12 feet (3.65 meters) tall. Photographer: Richard J. Rehman
It is not an easy task to bestow the title of “largest flower,” as it involves more than just measuring blooms. Although the enormous morphophallus titanum has the largest unbranched (non-tree growing) inflorescence that can reach over 10 feet in height – so it is by no means small – this huge rainforest gem is composed of hundreds of small buds growing on the same stalk.
It is also known as corpse flower, like Rafflesia arnoldii, due to its odor, which is similar to that of decaying flesh. It is a carrion flower that attracts various types of flies, bees, and other insects for pollination.
The berries of the titan arum are arranged in a regular cylindrical pattern, similar to the packing of spheres inside a cylindrical confinement.
Titan arum berries. Image credit: Glamhag
The plant is native to Sumatra, Indonesia, and is now grown in gardens all over the world. However, both in the wild and in captivity, blooms are rare.
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)
Look at my sunflower tree! The source is Reddit.
Sunflowers are well-known (and loved), but it is less well-known that they can grow extremely large. Their erect rough-hairy stem typically grows to a height of 10 feet (3 meters), but the tallest sunflower was nearly three times that size!
The tallest sunflower in the world, according to giantgardening.com, was grown in Germany by Hans-Peter Schiffer in 2016. That flower was 30 feet and one inch (9.17 meters) tall.
Schiffer is a master of growing monster sunflowers, having previously set the record twice.
Hans-Peter Schiffer and his family pose with the world’s largest sunflower. Photographer: Hans-Peter Schiffer
But it’s not just the height of sunflowers that can reach extremes; the flowers themselves can grow to be two feet (60 cm) in diameter. Emily Martin of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada, grew the world’s largest sunflower head in September 1983, measuring 32.25 inches (82 cm).
Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera)
The lotus flower can reach a diameter of 12 inches (30 cm). Photographer: lecercle
Lotus plants are adapted to grow in the flood plains of slow-moving rivers and delta areas, where an individual plant can drop hundreds of thousands of seeds onto the waterbed each year. They have a very wide native distribution ranging from India and Sri Lanka, through northern Indochina and East Asia, to New Guinea and Australia.
While lotus leaves float on or above the water’s surface, lotus flowers grow on thick stems that rise several centimeters above the leaves. The leaf stalks can grow to be 6-7 feet (200 cm) long, and the leaves themselves can grow to be 31 inches (80 cm) in diameter. The lovely flowers can grow up to 12 inches (30 cm) across, but 14 inches (35 cm) has also been reported. Some cultivated varieties have an unusually large number of petals, up to 5000 – the most ever recorded for any plant species.
Some varieties have up to 5000 petals, but this one is stunning in both beauty and size. Photographer: T.Voekler
The lotus plant, like humans and other warmblooded animals, has the remarkable ability to keep the temperature of its flowers within a narrow range. Even when the air temperature dropped to 50 °F (10 °C), lotus flowers blooming in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens maintained a temperature of 86-95 °F (30-35 °C). They believe the flowers are acting in this manner to attract cold-blooded insect pollinators.
Magnolia (Magnolioideae)
Magnolia is an ancient genus of about 210 to 340 flowering plant species that was named after French botanist Pierre Magnol (and not because the flowers are so magnificent, or even magnified). Magnolia species’ flowers are thought to have evolved to encourage pollination by beetles before bees (fossils of plants indentifiably belonging to the Magnoliaceae family date back 95 million years). Magnolia flower carpels are extremely tough to avoid damage from the latter.
Magnolia ‘tlas’ has the largest flowers of any Magnolia species, measuring 14 inches (35 cm) across.
Nature’s blooming beauty at its peak – or width, for that matter.
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