The world’s largest flower bloomed recently, and then died within a week. A bright red Rafflesia Tuan-Mudae blossomed in Indonesian rainforest. The flower reeked of decomposing human flesh and was more than three feet across (117cm) which makes it one of the biggest flowers in the world.

According to local reports, the flower is only the first of a group of five of the flowers expected to bloom.

 

Conservationist took measurements of the flower in the forest of the nature reserve in Marambuang Nagarai Barini village in West Sumatra, Indonesia. The massive flower, Rafflesia Tuan-Mudae measured 46 inches (117cm) wide and it is the biggest of its species ever grown.

Rafflesia is a large group of plants which smell of rotting flesh to attract flies and carrion beetles.

It is a parasitic plant that blooms only for a few days at a time. Flies are attracted to the stench of flesh and pollinate the flower in its short lifespan.

Other plants of the same genus can grow even larger and one plant Rafflesia Arnoldii, inspired the Pokemon character Vileplume.

 

“For this type of species, the diameter is quite large. In 2017 we encountered the same flower with a 107cm diameter,” Daily Mail quoted Ade Putra from the Indonesia conservation board as saying.

According to Daily Mail, the diameter of the flower in question is the largest for 31 types of Rafflesia flowers in the world.