Rafflesia
is a genus of rare plants from Southeast Asia.
It includes the species that produces the largest flowers in the world
some growing to over one meter across.
It's thought that the life
cycle of Rafflesia goes something like this.
A tiny seed first needs to get into a damaged section
of the host plant, a tetrastigma vine.
Once inside, it extends out fleshy strands that steal water and nutrients.
Large cabbage shaped buds then appear along the host.
Roughly 6 to 16 months later, these bloom into monstrous red Giants
Flowers produce heat and release the smell of rotting flesh, which attracts flies.
They pick up pollen, and the hope is that they'll fly off
to another flower of the opposite gender to pollinate it.
The flower only survives for about a week.
And if pollination is successful, the female will produce fruit containing seeds.
When species are faced with extinction.
conservationists create captive populations that could later
be released back into the wild.
But although many botanists had tried getting Rafflesia to grow outside
the rainforest had proved nearly impossible.
By taking a sample
from an infected houseplant and grafting it into one in the gardens,
Sofi realized the Rafflesia would continue to grow.
On the rare occasion Sofi's team has obtained seeds,
almost all the planted seeds had failed to produce
flowers.
After ten years of waiting,
in 2022, the first Rafflesia arnodlii planted from seed bloomed