Titan Arum and Rafflesia are Different
The rafflesia flower was often confused by titan arum flower. Even few of media in Indonesia made the common mistake. Rafflesia and Titan arum both are giant flowers. They give off the rotten smell, like a cadaver, so both can be nicknamed as "corpse flower". The odor's function is for attracting beetles and flies to do pollinate.
The both also grow in Sumatran rainforest. In Bengkulu, rafflesia has been a motif of Besurek batik (kind of batik specialty Bengkulu) since a long time ago. In other hand, titan arum is official flower of Bengkulu Province. So this is a little bit confusing, in no doubt. But you'll see the clear different within this table:
Rafflesia | Titan Arum | |
Rafflesia arnoldii | Latin name |
Amorphpophallus titanium |
| Red | Color | Cream on the outside and purple in the crown |
| Parasite to lianas (if the nursemaid dies, Rafflesia will also dies) | Type | Tubers |
| Up to 0.5 m high, diameter 1 m | Posture when blossom | Up to 4 m high, diameter 1.5 m |
| Cannot (the nursemaid, Tetrastigma vine, grows only in primary rainforests) | Cultivation outside the habitat | Can (that's why it can be found in many botanic gardens around the world) |
| Lacks any observable leaves, stems or roots. | Physics | Grow on its roots. Has a big leaf and stem. |
| 9 months | Grow of flower | Many months |
| 5-7 days, then wilted and died | Blooming period | 7 days, then wilted |
Odoardo Beccari, an Italian botanist, first discovered titan arum in Sumatra 1878. Though found in many botanic gardens around the world, titan arum is still indigenous only to the Sumatra's tropical forests.
If the largest branched inflorescence in the plant kingdom belongs to the Talipot palm (Corypha umbraculifera), titan arum is a flowering plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. Meanwhile, the largest single flower is borne by the Rafflesia arnoldii.
Rafflesia is rare. It's difficult to locate the strange plants in forests as the buds take many months to develop and the flower lasts for just a few days. How many of these flowers still survive is unknown. It might be almost extinction. As the remaining primary (undisturbed) forests of Borneo and Sumatra disappear, it can only be assumed that their numbers are declining.
If you'd like to see the both flowers in indigenous habitat, visit Indonesia. We'll tell you when hear that they are about to bloom.