Did you know that the world’s biggest flower is also the smelliest?

Imagine walking up to the biggest flower in the world and taking a big, long, sniff. You might think it would smell lovely, but the truth is that the biggest flower in the world is also the stinkiest!

The Rafflesia flower is huge; it can get over a metre wide and weigh up to 10 kilograms. It’s also a parasite that grows from another plant! It’s called the corpse flower because the petals look like rotting meat, and the flower gives off a powerful stench. It might be hard to imagine anything being attracted to the smell of rotting flesh, but insects (especially flies and carrion beetles, who feed off dead animals) love it. The insects are attracted to the stench, and pollinate the flowers they visit.

Have you ever seen a flower like a lilac, which appears to be a large colourful flower, but is actually made up of smaller flowers? The largest type of this kind of flower is called the Titan arum. It’s also called a corpse flower, because it also smells just as bad as Rafflesia. These stinky flowers can grow over 3 metres tall!

It’s hard to see it in bloom, because it only makes a flower every thousand days, and the flower dies after three days. When they’re in bloom, the ends of these flowers can heat up to body temperature, making them appear even more like rotting flesh. No wonder the carrion bugs love them!