World's Largest Flower

Rafflesia (rafle'zhə) , any of a genus (Rafflesia) of parasitic flowering plants native to the rain forests of Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines. The plants have no roots, stems, or leaves, consisting of threadlike growths on the tissues of the Tetrastigma vine that hosts them.

This is a Rafflesia Cantleyi. Compare the size to our Semai guide, Ngah.

The flowers have no leaves and hardly any stem, just a huge speckled five-petaled flower with a diameter up to 106 cm, and weighing up to 10 kg. The flowers will only last for 2-3 days then it will start to turn black and wilt. That is when it will smell like rotting meat, hence its local names which translate to "corpse flower" or "meat flower".

From seed to bud, it takes no less than about one and a half years while from bud to full bloom takes another nine months! The seeds germinate and spread fine threads inside the vine.

This is just another 2-3 days to full bloom.