Friday, June 17, 2011
Gigantic Wonderful Flower
Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants. It contains approximately 28 species (including four incompletely characterized species as recognized byWillem Meijer in 1997), all found in southeastern Asia, on the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, and the Philippines.
Rafflesia was found in the Indonesian rain forest by an Indonesian guide working for Dr. Joseph Arnold in 1818, and named after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the leader of the expedition. It was discovered even earlier by Louis Deschamps in Java between 1791 and 1794, but his notes and illustrations, seized by the British in 1803, were not available to western science until 1861.
Rafflesia arnoldii flower and bud
The plant has no stems, leaves or true roots. It is an endoparasite of vines in the genus Tetrastigma (Vitaceae), spreading its absorptive organ, thehaustorium, inside the tissue of the vine. The only part of the plant that can be seen outside the host vine is the five-petaled flower. In some species, such asRafflesia arnoldii, the flower may be over 100 centimetres (39 in) in diameter, and weigh up to 10 kilograms (22 lb). Even the smallest species, R. baletei, has 12 cm diameter flowers. The flowers look and smell like rotting flesh, hence its local names which translate to "corpse flower" or "meat flower" (but see below). The vile smell that the flower gives off attracts insects such as flies, which transport pollen from male to female flowers. Most species have separate male and female flowers, but a few have bisexual flowers. Little is known about seed dispersal. However, tree shrews and other forest mammals apparently eat the fruits and disperse the seeds. Rafflesia is an official state flower of Indonesia, also Sabah state in Malaysia, as well as for the Surat Thani Province, Thailand.
The name "corpse flower" applied to Rafflesia is confusing because this common name also refers to the Titan Arum (Amorphophallus titanum) of the familyAraceae. Moreover, because Amorphophallus has the world's largest unbranched inflorescence, it is sometimes mistakenly credited as having the world's largest flower. Both Rafflesia and Amorphophallus are flowering plants, but they are still distantly related. Rafflesia arnoldii has the largest single flower of any flowering plant, at least when one judges this by weight. Amorphophallus titanum has the largest unbranched inflorescence, while the Talipot palm (Corypha umbraculifera) forms the largest branched inflorescence, containing thousands of flowers; this plant is monocarpic, meaning that individuals die after flowering.
Mythical Wordings About Love
Whether the love lasts a week, a year, or beyond, love is the most desired commodity in society today, which is why there is so much said about the subject. Our top ten love quotes are comprised of the most famous and the most popular words spoken on what truly makes the world go ‘round.
1. “There is only one happiness in life -- to love and to be loved.”
-- George Sand
-- George Sand
2. “What I needed most was to love and to be loved, eager to be caught. Happily I wrapped those painful bonds around me; and sure enough, I would be lashed with the red-hot pokers or jealousy, by suspicions and fear, by burst of anger and quarrels.”
-- St. Augustine
-- St. Augustine
3. "When you are in Love you can't fall asleep because reality is better than your dreams."
-- Dr Seuss
-- Dr Seuss
4. “Women wish to be loved not because they are pretty, or good, or well bred, or graceful, or intelligent, but because they are themselves.”
-- Henri Frederic Amiel
5. “The best thing about me is you.”
-- Shannon Crown
-- Henri Frederic Amiel
5. “The best thing about me is you.”
-- Shannon Crown
6. “Pleasure of love lasts but a moment, Pain of love lasts a lifetime.”
-- Bette Davis
7. “If you love me, let me know. If not, please gently let me go.”
-- Anonymous
8. “You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly.”
-- Sam Keen
-- Bette Davis
7. “If you love me, let me know. If not, please gently let me go.”
-- Anonymous
8. “You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly.”
-- Sam Keen
9. “To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.”
-- Heather Cortez
-- Heather Cortez
10. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”
-- Helen Keller
-- Helen Keller
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