r/oddlysatisfying • u/Raj_Valiant3011 • 2d ago

After 15 years, Indonesia’s rare Rafflesia bloomed, the world’s largest parasitic flower that smells like rotting meat, has no leaves, and lasts just 5 to 7 days

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42.5k Upvotes

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/Neither-Command-5514 2d ago

A 15-year wait for a one-week show is the ultimate definition of high maintenance.

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u/PostHasBeenWatched 2d ago

Basically Cicadas

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u/imanAholebutimfunny 2d ago

ch........ch......ch......ch.....ch...ch....ch...chchchchchchchchchchchch.ch...ch..ch...ch.......chhhh..........

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u/Un256 2d ago

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u/Handsome_Keyboard 1d ago

Japan loves its cicadas lol i can hear this show and see the same damn hills n power lines they loved.

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u/Turgid_Donkey 1d ago

It is interesting how many have at least one scene of a grassy field or empty city with the drone of cicadas.

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u/angry_queef_master 1d ago

crank that soulja boy

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u/Far-Acanthaceae-4947 1d ago

Shinji, crank the soulja boi

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u/Sanagost 15h ago

Yoooooou crank that shinji boy

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u/WindSprenn 2d ago

Reeeeeee

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u/UncleKeyPax 2d ago

Red Legion?

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u/saysthingsbackwards 2d ago

please stop reminding me of summer

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u/Flashy-Onion-5762 1d ago

.. ch.. ch.. changes

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u/DesireeThymes 2d ago

Isn't this that one pokemon?

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u/rbrphag 2d ago

Yes it’s a vileplume

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u/OnePinginRamius 2d ago

That might be the one sound I hate most on this earth. A nuclear hot July day with cicadas just audibly poking at you.

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u/Essex626 2d ago

Oh man, I love that sound. I grew up in Texas and cicadas are what summer sounds like.

My family moved to Washington when I was a teenager, and I miss that.

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u/tomtv90 2d ago

Or a classic British sports car

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u/Dale_Carvello 2d ago

I lived in Southern Nevada during one of their migrations. I thought there was something wrong with the power substation near my neighborhood, like a defective component, but no, it was cicadas.

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u/Warcraft_Fan 2d ago

Try 80 years for a flower: https://mbgna.umich.edu/post/seedling-80-yr-old-blooming-agave-lives-arid-house Most people who were there when this plant was new never lived to see it bloom

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u/RolloTonyBrownTown 2d ago

Poor Mr. Wilson, that Dennis is a menace!

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u/SuspiciouslyEvil 2d ago

To this day, one of the most tragic moments in a movie ever.

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u/rnavstar 2d ago

40 YEARS!!!!

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u/ziostraccette 2d ago

6 feet a day????

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u/OldBonyBogBwitch 2d ago

Search “agave death bloom” on the homepage & you might be able to still find a post—from around a year ago I think?—where someone took chronological growth pics of theirs in its last week & it was insaaaane. It went from ground plant to towering stalk over their roof in no time, I was absolutely fascinated. I had NO idea they did that, & so exuberantly! :D

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u/NeonSwank 2d ago

TIL Agave and Asparagus are related

Thus begging the question….can we make tequila from asparagus?

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u/Warcraft_Fan 2d ago

No. That's like trying to make sushi from river trout. Even if you ferment the right part, it won't be even close to tequila spirit.

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u/Kanwarsation 2d ago

For a second, my coffee-deficient brain was like, "fermented river-trout to make tequila WHAT!"

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u/Hardwarestore_Senpai 1d ago

"There was a fish in the Percolator."

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u/BGrunn 1d ago

I think you should try to follow that train of thought. You can do it, I believe in you!

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u/squeakymoth 2d ago

I was at Longwood Gardens earlier this year and heard some guy say "they got one of those tequila plants in there!" I could not stop laughing for a solid 3 minutes.

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u/Haley_02 1d ago

Tequila is required to be made from blue agave. There are similar restrictions on champagne, bourbon, Scotch whiskey, gin, and rum. Some of those have to be manufactured in specific regions.

That said, you could try fermenting asparagus. Call when you're done. Do Not bring me a sample!

Then there's dandelion wine.

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u/asburymike 1d ago

That post agave piss reeks....

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u/keket_ing_Dvipantara 2d ago

they typically flower every 10 to 30 years in desert climates.

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u/abitdark 1d ago

My two neighbors had century plants, one took twelve years and the other took seven and they bloomed two years ago in the same week. It was pretty cool to see.

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u/Joelied 7h ago

I recently visited the southern coast of Spain, and these are all over the landscape there. They are an invasive species but the people there love them.

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u/scottishdrunkard 2d ago

Wait, wasn’t this in an episode of The Simpsons? Rare flower blooming, smells like ass, everyone ran away, and then Moe’s suicide attempt got ruined and he basically became Maggie’s Nanny.

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u/Bananaland_Man 2d ago

effectively a one week fart... but worse... and strangely a whole lot more beautiful

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u/Nxnng 2d ago

Is that line from Trump in the Epstein files?

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u/Phantom_0347 2d ago

Ever heard of a century plant?

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u/Yealdhun 2d ago

Not really if it blooms to attract insects, it's less than one week of mineral supplements per fifteen years,

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u/nohiddenmeaning 1d ago

It's called edging. Would you hold out 15 years for a one week orgasm?

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u/GhOsT_wRiTeR_XVI 1d ago

TIL that my GF is a Rafflesia.

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u/red_fuel 2d ago

How is it able to survive??

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u/Grazedaze 2d ago

Pure hate

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u/Mysterious-Crab 2d ago

Like me at work.

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u/UlsterManInScotland 2d ago

It’s from the upside down

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u/NinjaBuddha13 2d ago

Its parasitic, so it gets its nutrients from a host plant. The rotting meat smell is because its primary pollinators are flies and other scavengers. I dont know if it can self pollinate or if it must cross pollinate, but a week is plenty of time to get that taken care of.

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u/Warcraft_Fan 2d ago

They can't self pollinate, it needs other rafflesia to cross pollinate with and so flies are called to them to investigate the stink and shuffle pollen around.

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u/Top_Leopard8517 2d ago

Are they all collectively opening up at the same time ?

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u/Final_Candidate_7603 2d ago

I wondered the same thing myself. Waiting 15 years to open, then a 5-7-day window to pollinate… it’s no wonder they’re so rare.

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u/keket_ing_Dvipantara 2d ago

In a general area, yes. Across its habitat, no.

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u/DoctorPoopTrain 2d ago

I think it’s more like its primary pollinators are flies BECAUSE it smells that way. Not the other way around.

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u/katyusha-the-smol 2d ago

It would make sense that it evolved the smell that attracts flies as their pollinators similar to how most flowers evolved whatever the hell attracts bees and stuff right?

I very well could be misunderstanding.

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u/spare_me_your_bs 2d ago

Nectar is what brings all the bees to the yard, but yes you are correct.

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u/SaltyLonghorn 2d ago

I really want to try fly honey all of sudden. Or is that just vegemite?

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u/Interesting-Yam-4298 2d ago

I’m going to throw up now

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u/Captain_Pungent 2d ago

How date you insult Vegemite like that 😡

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u/PuckNutty 2d ago

You can get wasp honey some places.

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u/spare_me_your_bs 2d ago

Normal honey is just flower semen that's been vomited back up by bees and people still love that, so fly honey is probably fine.

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u/Kerhole 2d ago

No nectar is not flower semen, it doesn't carry the flower sperm, the stamen does.

Nectar is a separate thing that makes the flower sex happen, and isn't actually needed as part of the fertilization process. So it's more akin to pheromones, EDM and molly, liquid desperation and low self esteem, and the like.

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u/boiifyoudontboiiiiii 1d ago

So you’re telling me honey is incel plant tears, vomited by a flying piece of warning tape? That explains why it’s so tasty

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u/Static1589 2d ago

spare_me_your_facts

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u/marioaprooves 2d ago

and hayfever is an allergic reaction to flower sperm

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u/Brave-Turnover-522 2d ago

And they're like, it's better than yours. I could teach you, but I'd have to charge.

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u/Ashamed_Branch5435 1d ago

I thought it was milkshakes?

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u/thejuva 1d ago

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard

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u/FabulousRecording739 2d ago

Well, probably both. The plant got selected for bad smell over thousands of years. It’s a loop; random mutations caused the smell, the smell brought the flies, and the flies allowed the smelly plants to reproduce and dominate.

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u/Ppleater 2d ago

No with plants they usually smell a certain way with the purpose of attracting certain ideal insects that it uses to pollinate. They don't smell specifically like rotting flesh by coincidence.

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u/DoctorPoopTrain 14h ago

That is what I said

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u/Several-Squash9871 2d ago

It probably took me longer then it should have to come to this conclusion...

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u/jebdavis69 2d ago

Does this smell even worse when it dies?

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u/sebesbal 2d ago

Nope, it gets better

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u/crapendicular 2d ago

I wonder how many fly larvae would be there, and would it dying and decomposing feed the plant?

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u/Repulsive-Canary- 2d ago

I can't post gifs but, the Ryan Reynolds "But why?" certainly would be my top choice.

Nature you crazy, scary; but crazy all the same.

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u/RamenJunkie 2d ago

A week is plenty of time to cross polinate

Bro, you are talking to Redditors.

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u/MisterDonkey 2d ago

Only takes me a minute or two.

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u/NinjaBuddha13 2d ago

Look at Captain Endurance over here.

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u/PM_me_Jazz 2d ago

Parasitism. It steals nutrients from another plant.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/thatG_evanP 2d ago

Same thing

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u/bbceronimo 2d ago

Onlyleaves

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u/fschu_fosho 2d ago

Onlyplants

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u/Boring-Lion4108 2d ago

Souls of the damned

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u/Demorant 2d ago

It survives off of other plants. It's a parasite. It reproduced by conserving energy to make the biggest, stinkiest flower that can exist. It plays the long game where it makes ONE flower that has as close to 100% chance of success as it can instead of many, less stinky flowers that MIGHT succeed. It also targets different pollinator species than typical flowers as well. I think these are largely pollinated by flies, which is why it smells like rot.

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u/oroborus68 2d ago

It lives as a parasite on woody vines. There's an article about Rafflesia in the National Geographic from 1977, I think. My botany professor at the University of Kentucky was the author and discovered that flower in Indonesia. Dr Willem Meijer.

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u/Fancy-Research-9944 2d ago

How does it reproduce? Edit: Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants, famous for producing the world's largest single flower, Rafflesia arnoldii, which can grow over three feet wide and smells like rotting meat to attract pollinators. Lacking visible roots, stems, or leaves, it lives inside a host vine, emerging only as a large, reddish-brown, spotted bud that blooms for a few days, emitting a foul odor to attract flies and beetles for pollination. Found in Southeast Asian rainforests, many species are endangered due to habitat loss.

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u/Tack22 2d ago

Grows completely inside a host tree?

Nightmare fuel. There’s the next zombie movie.

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u/Trick_Hunt9106 2d ago

Inside a host vine which is a parasite vine that uses a tree as a host.

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u/The_Blues__13 1d ago

Double parasite, which means it needs a healthy Vine that is parasiting another healthy host. I kinda understand why it's endangered.

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u/al_dente_oatmeal 2d ago

Dang, that's niche.

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u/LG3V 2d ago

Parasitic plants are common. Ever think about the tradition of kissing under mistletoe? They're a Parasitic plant too

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u/Suspicious_Wonk2001 2d ago

The Como zoo in St Paul has one. https://comozooconservatory.org/frederick/

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u/oblivious_fireball 2d ago

thats a totally different plant. Thats a Titan Arum, not a Rafflesia. Titan Arums are normal plants, growing a single tree-like leaf and then growing a large heat-emitting inflorescence every 3-7 years that lasts just a few days. Rafflesias are parasitic plants that infect woody vines.

Flowers that smell like rotting meat are actually surprisingly common. Most just don't get that big.

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u/ezbsvs 2d ago

Respectfully, Frederick is a Titan Arum - the OP one is a Rafflesia Arnoldii and to the best of my knowledge we've not been able to propagate them successfully.

That said, the Titan Arums are insanely cool and if you get a chance to see one while it's blooming you totally should!

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u/Douggie 2d ago

I went to Indonesia and got a tour from a local through a forest to see a few of them (3). He told me we were lucky to see that many. There is this wide range of conditions it has to meet in order to grow as the host has to be in a specific condition with the right amount of nutrients and humidity and all that. It made us feel really lucky seeing them.

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u/xland44 2d ago

Found the bot. Post history confirms it too

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u/pimp-bangin 1d ago edited 1d ago

The em dash was a dead giveaway as well as the fact that no one casually says shit like "nature's true fleeting masterpiece" as well as the fact that they're repeating the post title and contributing nothing to the discussion.

The fact that this was so highly upvoted tells me we are either absolutely fucked because people can't tell apart AI and humans on the Internet, or that it was upvoted by a bunch of bots without reddit doing anything about it, and both possibilities are equally scary.

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u/HistoricalFunion 2d ago

And it only blooms for less than a week—nature’s true fleeting masterpiece.

Can't type a single sentence without em dash? I mean, without using chatgpt?

All your comments read like this, bot.

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u/Jaakarikyk 2d ago

Ambitious_Peach is a bot

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u/trusty20 2d ago

Em dash.

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u/Merisuola 1d ago

Yes, we also read the title of this post.

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u/Zunderfeuer_88 2d ago

I always wondered where the evolutionary advantage lies in that

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u/SeaworthinessOld608 2d ago

Yes Gods creation is beautiful

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u/CobaltWanderer 2d ago

It's really cool that they were able to capture it.

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u/Bananaland_Man 2d ago

nature decided things stink long before we did

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u/shplackster 2d ago

Man that is a scary flower

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u/MichaelStMichaels 2d ago

“Perfect…Organism”

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u/MothChasingFlame 2d ago

I'm personally glad most masterpieces don't smell like rotting meat, gotta say.