世界上最大的鮮花在遙遠的印度尼西亞叢林中盛開

世界上最大的鮮花在遙遠的印度尼西亞叢林中盛開

While stumbling through some remote jungle in Indonesia's West Sumatra, conservationists claim to have spotted the world's largest flower bloom ever recorded, reports Phys.org.

Phys.org網(wǎng)站報道，在印尼西蘇門答臘島的一些偏遠叢林中，環(huán)保人士聲稱發(fā)現(xiàn)了世界上有記錄以來最大的花開了。

A Rafflesia tuan-mudae in Gunung Gading National Park. (Photo: Beavittw/Wiki Commons [CC 3.0 License])

The specimen is a giant Rafflesia tuan-mudae, a species that boasts mammoth but elusive blossoms that only bloom for about seven days at the end of the plant's lifespan. The record flower measured in at a diameter of 111 centimeters (3.6 feet), which makes it larger than the previous record holder by 4 centimeters, also a Rafflesia tuan-mudae.

這個標本是一種名為Rafflesia tuan-mudae的巨型Rafflesia tuan-mudae，這是一種以其巨大卻難以捉摸的花朵而著稱的物種，在該植物的生命周期結(jié)束時，它只會開花7天左右。據(jù)測量，這朵花的直徑為111厘米(3.6英尺)，比之前的紀錄保持者大了4厘米。

"This is the largest Rafflesia tuan-mudae that has ever been documented," said Ade Putra at the Agam Conservation Agency in Sumatra.

蘇門答臘島阿甘自然保護機構(gòu)的艾德·普特拉說:“這是有記載的最大的卷毛蝠。”

The flower is characterized by its flesh-colored petals that are covered in white blister-like spots. That might not sound like the most flattering description, but it's apropos considering the smell this species is known to emit. Rafflesia tuan-mudae are a type of corpse flower, which smells like a rotting carcass. Don't let this fact lessen the glory of a find like this, however. What the flower lacks in fragrance, it makes up for in its fascinating biology.

這種花的特點是它肉色的花瓣上覆蓋著白色的水泡狀斑點。這聽起來可能不是最令人愉快的描述，但考慮到這種物種已知的氣味，這是恰當?shù)?。tuan-mudae是一種尸花，聞起來像腐爛的尸體。然而，不要讓這個事實削弱了這樣一個發(fā)現(xiàn)的榮耀。這種花缺乏香味，但它迷人的生物學特性彌補了這一點。

The pungent odor is meant to attract flies, which are this flower's principal pollinators. Interestingly, it's still a mystery as to what type of animal distributes the R. tuan-mudae seeds.

這種刺鼻的氣味是為了吸引蒼蠅，蒼蠅是這種花的主要傳粉者。有趣的是，究竟是哪種動物散布了金線蓮種子，至今仍是個謎。

These plants are also parasitic, growing inside the root of a host plant for around nine months until suddenly revealing themselves to the world with their gigantic stinking blooms. They were named "Rafflesia" after a British colonialist, Sir Stamford Raffles, who was the first to officially identify one in the early 19th century. Hopefully for Raffles' sake, it was named after him to honor the discovery, not because of the good sir's scent.

這些植物也是寄生的，在寄主植物的根部生長了大約9個月，直到突然向世界展示它們巨大的惡臭的花朵。它們被命名為“Rafflesia”，以英國殖民者斯坦福德•萊佛士爵士的名字命名。希望萊佛士的緣故，它以他的名字命名是為了紀念這一發(fā)現(xiàn)，而不是因為這位好先生的氣味。

Admittedly, it takes a special kind of conservationist to run toward one of these flowers rather than away, but in this case the prize was worth the stench. Whatever its smell, it's a special plant, and it's encouraging that such rare natural wonders can still find room to grow on our crowded planet.

無可否認，只有一種特殊的自然資源保護論者才會奔向這些花朵，而不是遠離它們，但在這種情況下，這種惡臭是值得的。無論它的氣味如何，它都是一種特殊的植物，令人鼓舞的是，這種罕見的自然奇觀仍然能夠在我們這個擁擠的星球上找到生長的空間。