This rafflesia flower in a West Sumatran forest measures at nearly 4 feet in diameter. Rafflesia is commonly known as “the Monster flower” due to it’s parasitic tendencies and it’s horrible stench. It’s commonly nicknamed as the corpse flower as the smell it emits is close to what a decomposing body smells like. The smell attracts insects who then come in and help pollinate it.
Back in 2017 they found another huge Rafflesia in the same spot as this one. It appears to be blooming off of the same host plant only this one is 4 inches wider than the previous one. Which leads scientists to believe that it will host even bigger blooms in the future.
Like a scene out of Aliens the rafflesia is only seen when it bursts out of the host. It grows by eating the host and absorbing all of its water and nutrients. Then it explodes out of it’s body much like this..
There’s absolutely no denying that this flower is beautiful though. I mean just look at it, it’s spectacular.
And here’s a video of one blooming!
Ok so it’s not quite like Aliens, but still pretty cool to watch.
