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Rafflesia
''Rafflesia'' () is a genus of parasitic flowering plants in the family Rafflesiaceae. The species have enormous flowers, the buds rising from the ground or directly from the lower stems of their host plants; one species has the largest flowers in the world. Plants of the World Online lists up to 41 species from this genus, all of them are found throughout Southeast Asia. Western Europeans first learned about plants of this genus from French surgeon and naturalist Louis Deschamps when he was 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. The first British person to see one was Joseph Arnold in 1818, in the Indonesia rainforest in Bengkulu, Sumatra, after a Malay servant working for him discovered a flower and pointed it out to him. The flower, and the genus, was later named after Stamford Raffles, the leader of the expedition and the founder of the British colony of Singapore. The f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rafflesiaceae
The Rafflesiaceae are a family of rare parasitic plants comprising 36 species in 3 genera found in the tropical forests of east and southeast Asia, including ''Rafflesia arnoldii'', which has the largest flowers of all plants. The plants are endoparasites of vines in the genus '' Tetrastigma'' ( Vitaceae) and lack stems, leaves, roots, and any photosynthetic tissue. They rely entirely on their host plants for both water and nutrients, and only then emerge as flowers from the roots or lower stems of the host plants. Description Flowers Rafflesiaceae flowers mimic rotting carcasses in scent, color, and texture to attract their pollinators, carrion flies. For this reason, some flowers of the family ''Rafflesia'' are nicknamed "corpse flowers". Most members of Rafflesiaceae possess a large, bowl-shaped floral chamber formed by a perianth tube and a diaphragm. This diaphragm is the opening for carrion fly pollinators and is surrounded by attractive sterile organs. Flowers are ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rafflesia Arnoldii
''Rafflesia arnoldii'', the corpse flower or giant padma, is a species of flowering plant in the parasitic genus ''Rafflesia''. It is noted for producing the largest individual flower on Earth. It has a strong and unpleasant odor of decaying flesh. It is native to the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo. Although there are some plants with larger flowering organs like the titan arum ('' Amorphophallus titanum'') and talipot palm ('' Corypha umbraculifera''), those are technically clusters of many flowers. ''Rafflesia arnoldii'' is one of the three national flowers in Indonesia, the other two being the white jasmine (''Jasminum sambac'') and moon orchid (''Phalaenopsis amabilis''). It was officially recognized as a national "rare flower" ( id, puspa langka) in Presidential Decree No. 4 in 1993. Taxonomy The first European to find ''Rafflesia'' was the ill-fated French explorer Louis Auguste Deschamps. He was a member of a French scientific expedition to Asia and the Pacific, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tetrastigma
''Tetrastigma'' is a genus of plants in the grape family, Vitaceae. The plants are lianas that climb with tendrils and have palmately compound leaves. Plants are dioecious, with separate male and female plants; female flowers are characterized by their four-lobed stigmas. The species are found in subtropical and tropical regions of Asia, Malaysia, and Australia, where they grow in primary rainforest, gallery forest and monsoon forest and moister woodland. Species of this genus are notable as being the sole hosts of parasitic plants in the family Rafflesiaceae, one of which, ''Rafflesia arnoldii'', produces the largest single flower in the world. ''Tetrastigma'' is the donor species for horizontal gene transfer to '' Sapria'' and ''Rafflesia'' due to multiple gene theft events. Within the Vitaceae, ''Tetrastigma'' has long been considered closely related to ''Cayratia'' and ''Cyphostemma'' and is now placed in the tribe Cayratieae. Fossil record A fossil seed fragment from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bengkulu
Bengkulu is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southwest coast of Sumatra. It was formed on 18 November 1968 by separating out the former Bencoolen Residency area from the province of South Sumatra under Law No. 9 of 1967 and was finalized by Government Regulation No. 20 of 1968. Spread over 19,813 km2, it is bordered by the provinces of West Sumatra to the north, Jambi to the northeast, Lampung to the southeast, and South Sumatra to the east, and by the Indian Ocean to the northwest, south, southwest, and west. Bengkulu is the 25th largest province by area; it is divided into nine regencies and the city of Bengkulu, the capital and the only independent city. Bengkulu is also the 26th largest province by population in Indonesia, with 1,715,518 inhabitants at the 2010 Census and 2,010,670 at the 2020 Census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 2,032,941.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2022. According to a release by Bad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent islands such as the Simeulue, Nias, Mentawai, Enggano, Riau Islands, Bangka Belitung and Krakatoa archipelago. Sumatra is an elongated landmass spanning a diagonal northwest–southeast axis. The Indian Ocean borders the northwest, west, and southwest coasts of Sumatra, with the island chain of Simeulue, Nias, Mentawai, and Enggano off the western coast. In the northeast, the narrow Strait of Malacca separates the island from the Malay Peninsula, which is an extension of the Eurasian continent. In the southeast, the narrow Sunda Strait, containing the Krakatoa Archipelago, separates Sumatra from Java. The northern tip of Sumatra is near the Andaman Islands, while off the southeastern coast lie the islands of Bangka and Belitung, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Arnold
Joseph Arnold (28 December 1782 – 26 July 1818 in Padang, Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies) was a naval surgeon and naturalist. He was the first to bring to notice to English botany, the parasitic plant with one of the world's largest flowers, ''Rafflesia arnoldii'', which was named after him posthumously. His specimen collection is in the museum of the Linnean Society. Born in Beccles, Suffolk, the fourth son of Edward Arnold, a tanner and Hannah (d. 1786). He was schooled at John Leman's Free School and at the age of sixteen apprenticed to apothecary William Crowfoot. Arnold learned surgery in Edinburgh and received an MD in 1806. with a thesis on ''De Hydrothorace'' also known as dropsy of the chest. He joined the Royal Navy and was posted assistant surgeon on HMS ''Victory'' from April 1808 to February 1809. After recovering from typhus at Portsmouth, he was posted as surgeon on HMS ''Hindostan''. This sailed to Sydney via the Cape of Good Hope and returned Cape H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasitic Plants
A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called the haustorium, which penetrates the host plant, connecting them to the host vasculature – either the xylem, phloem, or both. For example, plants like ''Striga'' or ''Rhinanthus'' connect only to the xylem, via xylem bridges (xylem-feeding). Alternately, plants like ''Cuscuta'' and some members of ''Orobanche'' connect to both the xylem and phloem of the host. This provides them with the ability to extract water and nutrients from the host. Parasitic plants are classified depending on the location where the parasitic plant latches onto the host (root or stem), the amount of nutrients it requires, and their photosynthetic capability. Some parasitic plants can locate their host plants by detecting volatile chemicals in the air or soil given ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vitaceae
The Vitaceae are a family of flowering plants, with 14 genera and around 910 known species, including common plants such as grapevines (''Vitis'' spp.) and Virginia creeper (''Parthenocissus quinquefolia''). The family name is derived from the genus ''Vitis''. Most ''Vitis'' species have 38 chromosomes (n=19), but 40 (n=20) in subgenus '' Muscadinia'', while ''Ampelocissus'', '' Parthenocissus'', and ''Ampelopsis'' also have 40 chromosomes (n=20) and ''Cissus'' has 24 chromosomes (n=12). The family is economically important as the berries of ''Vitis'' species, commonly known as grapes, are an important fruit crop and, when fermented, produce wine. Species of the genus '' Tetrastigma'' serve as hosts to parasitic plants in the family Rafflesiaceae. Taxonomy The name sometimes appears as Vitidaceae, but Vitaceae is a conserved name and therefore has priority over both Vitidaceae and another name sometimes found in the older literature, Ampelidaceae. In the APG III system (2009) o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stamford Raffles
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816, and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. He is best known mainly for his founding of modern Singapore and the Straits Settlements also called Malaysia and Brunei. Raffles was heavily involved in the capture of the Indonesian island of Java from the Dutch during the Napoleonic Wars. The running of day-to-day operations on Singapore was mostly done by William Farquhar, but Raffles was the one who got all the credit. He also wrote '' The History of Java'' (1817). Early life Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles was born on on board the ship ''Ann'', off the coast of Port Morant, Jamaica, to Captain Benjamin Raffles (1739, London – 23 November 1811, Deptford) and Anne Raffles (née Lyde) (1755 – 8 February 1824, London). Benjamin served as a ship master for various ships engaged in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flora Malesiana
''Flora Malesiana'' is a multi-volume flora describing the vascular plants of Malesia (the biogeographical region consisting of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea), published by the National Herbarium of the Netherlands since 1950. It currently consists of 204 full treatments, covering about 20% of a total of approximately 40,000 species. Main series ''Flora Malesiana'' is divided into two main series: ''I. Seed plants'' and ''II. Pteridophytes''. Later volumes include CD-ROMs with additional multimedia contents such as interactive keys. Series I. Seed Plants Currently, the following volumes have been published in Series I. Seed Plants: *Volume 1 – Malesian Plant Collectors *Volume 2 & 3 – not published. *Volume 4 (1954) – Revisions: Aceraceae, Actinidiaceae sens.str., Aizoaceae, Amaranthaceae, Ancistrocladaceae, Aponogetonaceae, Bixaceae sens.str., Burmanniaceae, Callitrichaceae, Cannabinaceae, Caprifoliaceae, Ceratophyllacea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs. Flowers may facilitate outcrossing (fusion of sperm and eggs from different individuals in a population) resulting from cross-pollination or allow selfing (fusion of sperm and egg from the same flower) when self-pollination occurs. There are two types of pollination: self-pollination and cross-pollination. Self-pollination occurs when the pollen from the anther is deposited on the stigma of the same flower, or another flower on the same plant. Cross-pollination is when pollen is transferred from the anther of one flower to the stigma of another flower on a different individual of the same species. Self-pollination happens in flowers where the stamen and carpel mature at the same time, and are posi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Host Plant
In biology and medicine, a host is a larger organism that harbours a smaller organism; whether a parasitic, a mutualistic, or a commensalist ''guest'' ( symbiont). The guest is typically provided with nourishment and shelter. Examples include animals playing host to parasitic worms (e.g. nematodes), cells harbouring pathogenic (disease-causing) viruses, a bean plant hosting mutualistic (helpful) nitrogen-fixing bacteria. More specifically in botany, a host plant supplies food resources to micropredators, which have an evolutionarily stable relationship with their hosts similar to ectoparasitism. The host range is the collection of hosts that an organism can use as a partner. Symbiosis Symbiosis spans a wide variety of possible relationships between organisms, differing in their permanence and their effects on the two parties. If one of the partners in an association is much larger than the other, it is generally known as the host. In parasitism, the parasite benefits at th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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