Click in to read more about world's largest flower and oldest living thing on earth
The largest flower in the
world, the rafflesia arnoldi, weighs 7 kg (15 pounds) and grows only on
the Sumatra island of Indonesia. Its petals grow to metre (1,6 feet)
long and 2,5 cm (1 inch) thick.
Rafflesia arnoldi - world's largest flower
There
are 16 species of rafflesia, found in Sumatra, Malaysia and Borneo. The
species is named after the naturalist Sir Stamford Raffles,
who founded the British colony of Singapore in 1819. Raffles discovered
the parasitic plant with his friend Dr. Joseph Arnold during their
travels in May 1818. The rafflesia arnoldi
is named after the two.
However fascinating and beautiful
the rafflesia arnoldi may be, it is also called "corpse flower" and really
reeks, the latter to attract flies for pollination.
Of about 200,000 kinds of
flowers in the world, the smallest is the duckweed, which can only be
seen with a microscope.
Oldest living thing
The oldest living thing on earth is a flowering shrub called the creosote
bush, found in the Mojave Desert. It is 15 metres (50 ft) in diameter.
It is estimated that it started from a seed nearly 12,000 years ago. During
its lifetime the last major period of glaciation in North America came
to an end, the wheel and writing were invented, and the great Egyptian
and Mayan pyramids were built. The shrub is still living.
