2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Belief in beauty, whose mission is to save the world, fades before the beauty that parasitizes the life of other plants. A huge flower, devoid of a stem and leaves, unexpectedly reveals its bright petals on the surface of the earth, having previously pulled out the juices from the roots of innocent representatives of plant life, depriving them of a chance to decorate our planet. The sonorous name, the brightness of the color of the flower are combined in Rafflesia with cunning and uselessness of existence
Combining incompatible
To date, scientists have not been able to discover any beneficial qualities in a plant named after a great worker, one of the famous founders of the Vritan Empire, Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (1781-06-07 - 1826-05-07). During his exactly 45 years, he managed to do a lot, starting to work at the age of 14, after the sudden death of his father, who left behind him large debts.
Stamford Raffles is considered the founder of Singapore, this "economic miracle" of the 20th century, having won the British rights to the island of Singapore in 1819. He not only participated in the expansion of British possessions in the vastness of Southeast Asia, but also was engaged in the revival of the ancient monuments of these lands, wrote a two-volume History of Java, collected a collection of literary samples of Malay culture (he was fluent in Malay), participated in expeditions to study fauna and flora of Southeast Asia.
The latter activity was immortalized in human memory through the name of a huge flower discovered in the Asian tropics by an expedition led by Stamford Raffles. In addition, the name Raffles sounds in the names of several more plants.
True, the flower itself, parasitizing on other plants, according to the aborigines, was a harbinger of trouble for Stamford Raffles. So it soon happened: his four children died of fever, although the flower was not directly to blame.
The history of people and plants is so closely intertwined at times, as if it wants to calm down human pride and reconcile two forms of existence: creative and parasitic.
The largest flower on the planet
Perhaps the share of participation in the tragedy of the Stamford Raffles family still lies on the conscience of a huge flower, which is distinguished not only by the large size and brightness of the petals, but also by the scent of the fall emanating from it to attract pollinators.
Swarms of flies carrying on their nimble legs and strong backs the sticky pollen of Rafflesia to the pistils of female flowers to give life to 4 million seeds from one plant, along the way, carry pathogenic microbes that are dangerous to human life.
Leaving such a huge amount of seeds to continue its existence on Earth, the flower dies. The seeds have a well-developed "scent", with which they determine that they have fallen into a very good place where they can release their sucker roots in order to introduce them into the stems or roots of the breadwinner vine that is within reach. In this, Rafflesia is similar to our parasite - Barazikha, about whose abilities we have already talked. The nutrients sucked out of the creeper contribute to the formation of a flower bud, which can be mistaken for a basketball lost in tropical thickets. When Rafflesia is full, the bud bursts, scattering its huge petals on the surface of the earth.
Hardly anyone counted how many lives of tropical vines fall prey to a gluttonous flower, the weight of which can reach 10 kg with a size up to 1 meter in diameter. The perianth tube can easily accommodate up to 7 liters of water. The tube is surrounded by five petals, the red surface of which is decorated with white spots, which makes the parasitic flower akin to the poisonous caps of mushrooms and fly agarics.
Summary
Although the secret of the usefulness of Rafflesia has not yet been revealed to scientists, one can only speculate about the purpose of the plant. Perhaps, in this way, a certain balance of forces of the plant world is maintained in nature.
An analogy with human society involuntarily suggests itself, which loves to condemn idlers, to persecute parasites … And maybe without them society will lose much more than with them?
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