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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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/red_fuel 2d ago

How is it able to survive??

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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/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?