Monday, June 16, 2008

Busy Planning

I'm busy planning for my KK trip. I still have 10 days left!!! I need to plan out the whole trip since I have been there before and my friends don't want to do it. So no choice lo~~~

This time, I will be going for many places (if my plan is workable). I want to go and see the largest flower in the world. Who knows the answer? Quick quick raise your hand!

Tang Tang Tang Tang...... The answer is....... Rafflesia.

Rafflesia Arnoldii

Want to know more about Rafflesia? Read the below description from wikipedia.

Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants. It was discovered 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 contains approximately 26 species (including four incompletely characterized species as recognized by Meijer 1997), all found in southeastern Asia, on the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra and Kalimantan, West Malaysia, and the Philippines. The plant has no stems, leaves or true roots. It is an endoparasite of vines in the genus Tetrastigma (Vitaceae), spreading its root-like haustoria 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.

Rafflesia Keithii

In some species, such as Rafflesia arnoldii, the flower may be over 100 cm in diameter, and weigh up to 10 kg. Even the smallest species, R. manillana, has 20 cm diameter flowers. The flowers look and smell like rotting meat, 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 carrion flies, which transport pollen from male to female 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 Sabah in Malaysia, as well as for the Surat Thani Province, Thailand.

Rafflesia Kerrii

The name "corpse flower" applied to Rafflesia is confusing because this common name also refers to the Titan Arum (Amorphophallus titanum) of the family Araceae. 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.

Rafflesia Pricei

I just can't wait to see it with my own eyes!!!

* All information and pictures are taken from Wikipedia.

26 comments:

Kikey Loo said...

wow... u made a full research abt it ar... can't wait ur trip photos. Also can't wait my own trip!!! (^.^)

Akira 思胜 said...

Haha, the flower is big, but I heard is kinda smelly...

Take more photos when u are there ya!

K3ViN said...

u going 2 panjat Gunung Kinabalu? Sooooo nice..... must take more pic of the view ya.... sure very nice one..... Gd luck on ur trip......

Dragon said...

kikey, need to find and plan out the whole trip mar.... so need to do more research. hahaha. next week only lo... so fast la!!!

akira, yes, smelly. for sure i will take more photos la... take until my memory card full!!!

k3vin, no panjat this time, maybe next time. for sure will take more photos. :)

迷迭香 said...

i hope u get to see a real Rafflesia.... ^_^

SockPeng said...

enjoy ur KK trip and take more photo share to us

Dragon said...

迷迭香, i hope so!!

sock peng, sure will share with all of you.

Anne said...

hohoho~~ remember to bring camera oh~~catch all the picture~~~muz buy a lot of souvenir oh!!! we all will MISS u much much de...& will take k of ur blog good good de~~^^

meiyi said...

i wish to go with u...

董百勤 said...

sob sob....
hope you hav a nice trip
REMEMBER us haha !(souvenir)

Dragon said...

anne, sure remember to bring la. but for buy a lot of souvenirs, see how lo.... thanks for taking care of my blog. but my laptop is with me. i can online. hahaha.

mei yi, come come, we go together.

百勤, why u sob sob? for sure i will have a nice one, thanks.

Tau Sar Phneah said...

raflesia..yea..hopefully 1 day i also got the chance to have a look..remember to capture any interesting or unusual shots during your trip yea...

iamlz said...

So nice so nice!! XD
I dint get to see rafflesia last time, looking forward for ur photo!! Be prepared for the smell ya heheh~

Hav fun!! XD Happy for u!!

-waiseng- said...

go KK so nice. I wanna go too! Show more photos in blog ya

Joze Foo said...

wah...rafflesia i didnt see b4 lei...can take back for me as souvenir? lol........kidding la...

ƒörèvër HL said...

they say rafflesia very big one worr....how big is it actually? ^^

Mrs Chong said...

yea...i heard that it smells...u so have to tell us about it. =)

by the way, you checked out the Project Trafford thing at my blog?

It's here. http://ahbu74.blogspot.com/2008/06/bump-ers-ops-kentang.html

help me promote sikit. =P

Ivan Liaw said...

owh, u plan to go to c dat in Kundasang?

den u can go mount kinabalu oso mar, very near to kundasang.

bring me~

Piggy said...

Hope u get to see that flower ya :)

tunadolphi said...

Wah...exciting trip wor! Looking forward to seeing your photos. (I dabao hui lao san dessert for u...u dabao rafflesia for me lah)
Hehe... :P

Sue said...

Wah syiok hor..

Dragon said...

tsp, my camera will with me all the time. if i don't have my camera, i still have my phone. hehe.

limzhi, me headache for the trip planning now.

waiseng, come, let's go. hehe. sure will share the photos.

joze, cannot take la.... hahaha, but i can take fake one.

forever hl, yes, rafflesia is the biggest flower in the world! how big? need to search from internet. :)

ping ping, not yet leh... hahaha. i will check later la.... i will try my best to help u promote.

天狼星, i think in tambunan. i didnt go climb, i will just go to the kinabalu park. :) u want to come? let's go together! u can come with wai seng too! hehe.

piggy, i hope so la... since the flower not everyday can see one. need to wait for its blooming season.

tunadolphi, u sure bo? dabao hui lao san for me? i want i want!!

sue, shd be syok la.... if not, i will not go lo... hahaha.

Geralvin said...

Thx for dropping by, i wonder will anything happen if We placed our hand in it>?

AhhJohn said...

last time i curious on 1 thing. "Does Rafflesia eat people?" hahah~

Dragon said...

alvincheng, hahaha, maybe it will eat your hand! there is one movie about the plant eating people one. it's a comedy but i forgot the name already.

john, for sure no la! hahaha.

Anonymous said...

Hi Dragon,

Noted in your blog you are an old resident of Kinta Lane. I am trying to locate a family by the surname of Cheang; that used to stay at no. 14 or 74 Kinta Lane (Can't read off the very old envelope correctly, on the unit #). It used to be a furniture or carpentry shop.

Wonder if you or any fellow bloggers can me help with information.

My sincere apologies for this irrelevant comment. My e-mail addr is "vizion2005 at yahoo.com.sg"

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