Indonesia is a country known for its great biodiversity. Biodiversity includes all of the animal and plant species, their genetic differences, and the ecosystems where they form interconnected communities. One of the endemic plants of Indonesia is Rafflesia arnoldii. Rafflesia arnoldii (called as Padma raksasa in Indonesian) is an obligate parasite plant that lives inside the vines of another plants belong to the Tetrastigma genus. Its body consists of filaments that spread through the vine, obtaining food from the host.

Rafflesia arnoldii has a widening flower with five thick and fleshy red-coloured petals, covered with lighter colored bumps or warts. In the center of each flower is a deep pit which contains a disk of spines. Flower is the only part of the Rafflesia arnoldii that is visible to us. Rafflesia arnoldii has no roots, leaves, and stems. Rafflesia has no leaves so it can't afford to do its own photosynthesis and take nutrients from its host tree. When the flowers bloom, the diameter can reach 70 - 110 cm with a height of 50 cm and weigh up to 11 kg. That's why Rafflesia arnoldii is famous as the largest flower in the world. When in bloom, Rafflesia arnoldii emits a repulsive odor, similar to that of rotting meat. This odor attracts insects that pollinate the plant. This flower growth period can take up to 9 months and the bloom period of 5 - 7 days. After that, Rafflesia arnoldii will wither.

This flower is one of the three national flowers in Indonesia (the other two are white jasmine and moon orchid). It was officially recognized as a national "rare flower" in Presidential Decree No. 4 in 1993. This flower was first discovered in the tropical forest of Bengkulu Province (Sumatra), somewhere near Manna River, Lubuk Tapi, South Bengkulu. The discovery of this giant flower was first known to have occurred in 1818 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, a British Governor-General at the time, with a naturalist Dr. Joseph Arnold. Hence, the naming of Rafflesia arnoldii based on the combined name of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles as the leader of the expedition and Dr. Joseph Arnold as the inventor of the foul-smelling giant flower. By this phenomenon, Bengkulu then became famous as The Land of Rafflesia.

Rafflesia arnoldii is a rare, hard to find, and endemic plant. With the occurrence of forest fires, the high rate of deforestation, and the decline of the forest area in Sumatra are making a serious threat to the sustainability of this giant flower. Spesifically, it also because of the increased human activity has disturbed and reduced flower bud production at many locations. However, until now, Rafflesia arnoldii can be found in several locations, including Kerinci Seblat National Park (TNKS), Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (TNBBS), Seblat Training Center (PLG) in North Bengkulu Regency, and Padang Guci Kaur Regency. Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (TNBBS) itself has been designated as the center of conservation of this attractive flower.

As it's known, the largest distribution of Rafflesia arnoldii exists in the Province of Bengkulu, recorded from Kaur Regency to Bukit Barisan, Seluma Regency, Central Bengkulu, Lebong to Bukit Gadis National Park. Luckily, I was born and grown up in Bengkulu Province. I could say that Bengkulu is my hometown. In 2016, my family and I got a chance to see Rafflesia arnoldii (again). This flower bloomed in protected forest areas in Taba Penanjung, Central Bengkulu. Probably it was our 3rd times seeing this magnificent flower as before that I had seen this flower when I was a child. As you can see in the pictures below that Rafflesia's petals were started to blacken and will soon wither, so that's means, perhaps, Rafflesia had been blooming for 4 days (if I'm not mistaken). I felt so lucky to have seen Rafflesia arnoldii directly and could take a picture with them. With a full of hopes that everyone, especially future generations, will get an opportunity too to see this astonishing creature.

Sources :

http://www.indonesia-tourism.com/bengkulu/raflesia.html

https://www.wwf.or.id/program/spesies/rafflesia_arnoldii/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafflesia_arnoldii

Images : All of these pictures were taken by my sister