Rafflesia Kerrii
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''Rafflesia kerrii'' is a member of the genus ''
Rafflesia ''Rafflesia'' (), or stinking corpse lily, is a genus of Parasitic plants, 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 p ...
'' of the small
parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The ent ...
family
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 e ...
. It is found in the rainforest of
southern Thailand Southern Thailand (formerly Southern Siam and Tambralinga) is the southernmost cultural region of Thailand, separated from Central Thailand by the Kra Isthmus. Geography Southern Thailand is on the Malay Peninsula, with an area of around , bo ...
and peninsular
Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
, with notable populations in
Khao Sok National Park Khao Sok National Park (, ) is in Surat Thani Province, Thailand. Its area is 461,712 rai ~ , and it includes the Cheow Lan Lake contained by the Ratchaprapha Dam. The park is the largest area of virgin forest in southern Thailand and is a ...
and
Khlong Phanom National Park Khlong Phanom () is a national park in southern Thailand, protecting 256,500 rai ~ of forests within the Phuket mountain range. It was declared a national park on November 17, 2000. The park is located in the southwest of Surat Thani Province, w ...
. Local Thai names are บัวผุด (''bua phut''), ย่านไก่ต้ม (''yan kai tom'') and บัวตูม (''bua tum''). The red flowers typically have a diameter of and smell awfully of rotten meat to attract flies for pollination. This species has some claim to being the world's largest flower, for although the average size of ''R. arnoldii'' is greater than the average ''R. kerrii'', there have been two recent specimens of ''R. kerrii'' of exceptional size; one specimen found in the Lojing Highlands of peninsular Malaysia on 7 April 2004 by Prof. Dr. Kamarudin Mat-Salleh, and his associate Mat Ros, measured in width, while another found in 2007 in Kelantan State, peninsular Malaysia by Dr. Gan Canglin measured . The plant is a parasite to the wild grapes of the genus ''
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 characterize ...
'' ( ''T. leucostaphylum'', ''T. papillosum'' and ''T. quadrangulum''), but only the flowers are visible. The remainder of the plant is a network of fibres penetrating all of the tissues of the ''Tetrastigma''; these fibres, although Angiosperm in nature, closely resemble a fungal mycelium. Small buds appear along the
liana A liana is a long-Plant stem, stemmed Woody plant, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the Canopy (biology), canopy in search of direct sunlight. T ...
s and roots of the host, which after nine months open as giant flowers. After just one week the flower wilts. The species flowers seasonally, with flowers only reported during the dry season, from January to March, and more rarely till July. The flower is endangered. Though already naturally rare, tourists trying to get close to the flower for photos easily trample the host plant or young buds. Also the locals collect both buds and flowers both as a delicacy as well as for its claimed medical powers. A concoction of cooked buds or flowers is used as a general tonic, to help for fever or backache or even as a sexual stimulant. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding the efficacy of the flower for treating any medical condition. The flower is the symbol flower of
Surat Thani Province Surat Thani (, ), often shortened to Surat, is the largest of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It lies on the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Surat Thani means 'city of good people', a title given to the city by King ...
, which is the location of the Khao Sok NP. The five "petals", formerly called "perigon lobes" have now been identified by a Harvard research team as true
sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...
s and the
corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...
is now seen as a combination of a true corona, as seen in
Sapria ''Sapria'' is an Asian genus of parasitic flowering plants in the family Rafflesiaceae erected by William Griffith in 1844.Griffith W (1844) ''Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond.'' 1: 216. It grows within roots of ''Vitis'' and ''Tetrastigma''. The genus is ...
with the five connate true petals.


Discovery

The species is named after the Irish botanist,
Arthur Francis George Kerr Arthur Francis George Kerr (1877–1942) was an Irish medical doctor. He is known particularly now for his botanical work, which was important for the study of the flora of Thailand. He encouraged other botanists to collect plant specimens in Tha ...
, who collected plants extensively in Thailand. It was Kerr who first collected a specimen of this species in 1927, and a further three by 1929. The specimen later used as the
type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...
was collected on 3 February 1929 at Khao Pho Ta Luang Kaeo near
Ranong Ranong () is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in southern Thailand, capital of the Ranong Province and the Mueang Ranong District. The town covers completely the area of the ''tambon'' Khao Niwet (เขานิเวศน์). As of 2024, it had ...
. It was scientifically collected several times afterwards, believed to be '' R. patma''. In 1984
Willem Meijer Willem Meijer (1923 – 22 October 2003) was a Dutch botanist and plant collector. Background and education Meijer was born in 1923 in The Hague, Netherlands. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam in 1951. Meijer travelled to ...
described it as a separate species.rafflesia-in-bloom blog
/ref>


References


Bibliography

*National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, ''National Park Bulletin'' June–July 200

(1.8 MB
PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...
) * Jamili Nais. Rafflesia of the World. . pp. 147–153


External links


Rafflesia kerrii in Khao Sok National ParkLooking for Rafflesia
{{Taxonbar, from=Q908442 kerrii Flora of Peninsular Malaysia Flora of Thailand Vulnerable plants