Chapter 1 Putrid Plants Ahh the sweet smell of flowers Some flowers smell really nice But others are absolutely disgusting Take a sniff of the rafflesia flower On second thought don’t This flower doesn’t smell sweet Instead it smells like rotting meat A rafflesia might smell gross but that smell helps it survive The rotting smell attracts flies When those flies land on the flower bits of pollen stick to their bodies Then the flies go to another flower and spread the pollen around This allows the flowers to reproduce
The rafflesia flower withers only after it emits the bad smell to attract insects The bad smell of the rafflesia flowers attracts flies and other insects that spread the pollen
Rafflesias smell gross but they look kind of pretty These flowers are puffy red and covered with polka dots They are also huge The rafflesia is the largest flower in the world It can measure up to three feet 1 m across and weigh up to 15 pounds 7 kg It takes about nine months for the rafflesia to bloom It lasts only about one week
Rafflesias grow in rainforests in Asia These flowers are very rare That’s probably a good thing or the whole forest would stink FUN FACT Rafflesias are often called corpse flowers because they smell like dead bodies A rafflesia flower found in Sumatra in 2019 measured 4 feet 120 cm in diameter This was the largest flower ever recorded
