World's Largest Flower Mystery Solved

Roland Piquepaille writes "The world's largest flower, called Rafflesia, can have a diameter up to one meter and can weigh up to 10 kilograms. It also smells like rotting flesh. Discovery News tells us that its genetic roots have been uncovered and that this plant that smells so bad is related to delicate flowers such as poinsettias or violets. The researchers analyzed the Rafflesia's mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which corresponds to chloroplast DNA. The mtDNA studies revealed that the large, stinky flower is related to more normal-sized, pleasantly fragrant posies, like passionflowers, and other members of the order Malpighiales. This overview contains more details and references. It also includes two photographs revealing the size of the rafflesia when held by a man, as well as details of the flower itself."

Comments

Too much of a good thing...

[sporktoast]

The relationship between stinky smells and pleasing ones is an interesting one. Many of the most unpleasant and gut-wrenching odors are not really much more than very intense concentrations of smells that are actually quite pleasant in smaller doses. Or actually, overly-powerful mixtures of several otherwise pleasing odors.

The smell of soft Ambergris is enough to make most people vomit, and yet it has been a valuable ingredient for perfume (in very small amounts, after being dissolved in alcohol) for centuries.

Think of other passionflowers as being something like Pachelbel's Canon and gigue in D and Rafflesia as being more like, lets say Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music, played at an extreme volume. (I actually enjoy MMM , though truth be told, only about once a year or so.)

That Smell

[ajax0187]

I'd like to know how they found someone to get that close to the thing. You're supposed to be able to smell those flowers from a couple hundred feet away, and even then they can make people with sensitive stomachs retch. The guys who study these things must have either cast-iron stomachs or blown their sinuses out. Or both.