Recently in the western part of the island of Sumatra, some Indonesian researchers they documented some flowering of a plant hiding in a vine. There Rafflesia hasseltii he spends most of his life like this. Years, sometimes decades, without showing themselves. Walking in the humid undergrowth of the forests of Sumatraeven if you look for it and pass by it, you will most likely not see anything. Not in the sense that it’s well hidden: there’s just nothing to see. No leaves, no stems, no signs that suggest a plant. Not because it is rare in the strict sense, but because it doesn’t emerge initially. Then, at a certain point, it happens. A huge, fleshy flower appears from the ground, with a strong smell hard to ignore. Very similar and related to the flower that inspired the Demogorgon of Stranger ThingstheAmorphophallus titanum shares an extraordinary evolutionary convergence with the latter: both imitate the smell of decomposition to deceive necrophagous insects e ensure pollination. Blooms like those observed are short events and extremely delicate, which if you are not there at the time you simply risk losing, making it a very complicated species to study.
There Rafflesia it is a parasitic plant of a vine
From a biological point of view, Rafflesia hasseltii it is a plant only on paper. It has no leaves. It has no roots. It doesn’t have a stem. It does not produce chlorophyll, the substance that makes plants green and allows them to use light to produce energy. Without chlorophyll, photosynthesis is not possible. To live, therefore, Rafflesia does something else: grows entirely inside another plant. The guest is one liana of the kind Tetrastigmaa vine-like climber that grows in tropical forests. Rafflesia it always stays in there: it uses its tissues for water and nutrients and never emerges outside, from the beginning to the end of the life cycle.
Review studies published between 2015 and 2016 at Middle Tennessee State University show that everything that is not a flower is reduced to microscopic tissues. They are called endophyte: basically, it is the part of the plant that grows inside another plant. In the case of Rafflesia, this endophyte develops directly in the tissues of the host vine and remains invisible. The only thing we see, when the plant “decides” to show itself, is the flower and nothing else.
Where he lives Rafflesia hasseltii
For a long time Rafflesia hasseltii it has been considered an exclusive species of Sumatra. Only later did it become clear that its distribution is a little wider and also includes some areas of western Borneo, such as Sarawak and Kalimantan. It doesn’t mean it’s common: on the contrary. The populations are few and very isolated.
A work published in 2019 by researchers from Research Center for Plant Conservation and Botanical Gardens of Bogor and the Gadjah Mada University describes the first certain finding of the species in West Kalimantan. The new sightings in West Sumatra, reported by Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (BRIN), they go in the same direction. Few populations, very localized and a high probability that many blooms go unnoticed. Not because they aren’t there, but because they don’t last long and they happen in places that are difficult to control with continuity.
A flower of enormous dimensions
When the flower opens fully, the size is immediately striking. In most cases the diameter is included between 30 and 50 centimetersalthough larger specimens have been observed. In the Tanjung Datu National Park, the surveys carried out together with researchers fromUniversiti Malaysia Sarawak they documented flowers between 47 and 53 centimeters wide.
The flower is characterized by five fleshy lobes, with a disc in the center that can reach up to 27 centimeters in diameter. In male flowers, 25 anthers were counted, i.e. the structures that produce pollen. Inside the flower are also found the so-called processesfleshy appendages useful for recognizing the species, which on average are 23 or 24.
How it is studied: measurements, microscopes and long stakeouts
Study Rafflesia hasseltii does not mean doing experiments in the laboratory, but wait. The available studies are almost all based on direct observations, field measurements and detailed morphological analyses and researchers must arm themselves with digital calipers and hand-held gauges to accurately measure the plant’s various structures.
In a 2020 study, for example, the ramenta, internal structures that are fundamental for distinguishing species of Rafflesiawere observed under the microscope and measured in millimeters: the lower ones reach 9–10 mmthe intermediate ones 10–14 mmthe upper ones are shorter, between 3 and 7 mm. This type of data is essential because the morphological variability within the species is high and can easily lead to identification errors.
A fragile reproduction full of unknowns
One of the most critical points that emerged from the review studies is how little is known about reproduction Of Rafflesia hasseltii. During field expeditions, as in the work published in Malayan Nature Journal in 2020, researchers followed the plants for several years, observing 44 buds and only 2 open flowers. This is a fact that says a lot: most attempts never reach flowering. The populations show a very unbalanced relationship between male and female flowers, and the Mortality of the buds is very high.
Data collected in different species of the genus Rafflesia indicate that buds with a diameter smaller than 5cm they have a very high probability of death, due to environmental disturbances, humidity, predation or simple physiological collapse. Even when the flower opens, the useful window for pollination is very short: in some related species the pollen remains viable only for 72 hours
An important indicator of forest balance
The recent discovery in Sumatra brought with it a clear message: the conservation of Rafflesia hasseltii it cannot ignore local communities. The report of BRIN (National Research and Innovation Agency) underlines how the protection of the flower depends on the protection of the forest, the host lianas and collaboration with those who live in these territories every day. It’s not just about saving a botanical curiosity. Rafflesia hasseltii it is an extremely sensitive ecological indicator: where it disappears, it means that the balance of the forest is already compromised.
