{"id":15008,"date":"2023-09-21T10:32:28","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T05:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=15008"},"modified":"2025-04-03T00:23:49","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T18:53:49","slug":"rafflesia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/rafflesia\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Rafflesia?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>About Rafflesia<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Rafflesia is a\u00a0<strong>genus of parasitic flowering plants native to Southeast Asia<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>These plants are\u00a0<strong>renowned for producing the largest individual flowers in the world,<\/strong> both in terms of size and weight.<\/li>\n<li>They are\u00a0<strong>often referred to as &#8220;corpse flowers&#8221; due to their foul odour<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Distribution<\/strong>: They inhabit specialised localities in the\u00a0<strong>tropical rainforests of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia<\/strong>, southern\u00a0<strong>Thailand<\/strong> and the\u00a0<strong>Philippines<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>There are\u00a0<strong>42 known species of Rafflesia,<\/strong> and the\u00a0<strong>most famous species<\/strong> within this genus\u00a0<strong>is Rafflesia arnoldii.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Features<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>They are massive and can reach up to\u00a0<strong>3 feet (almost 1 meter) in diameter<\/strong> and\u00a0<strong>weigh up to 7 kg.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Parasitic Lifestyle<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>They are\u00a0<strong>parasitic<\/strong>, meaning they\u00a0<strong>do not have leaves, stems, or roots<\/strong> like traditional plants.<\/li>\n<li>Instead,\u00a0<strong>they depend on a host vine called Tetrastigma for nutrients<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>and support.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Rafflesia&#8217;s\u00a0<strong>only visible part is the flower.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Limited Blooming Period:\u00a0<\/strong>They have a short blooming period,\u00a0<strong>often lasting only a few days to a week.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1) What is a Parasite?<\/h3>\n<p>A parasite is an organism that lives on or inside another organism, known as the host, and derives its sustenance from the host&#8217;s body. In the process, parasites often harm the host to varying degrees. Parasitism is a form of symbiotic relationship, where one organism benefits (the parasite) while the other is harmed (the host). Parasites can be found in various biological kingdoms, including animals, plants, and microorganisms.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/world-news\/rafflesia-flower-this-is-worlds-largest-flower-but-only-for-a-while-because-101695180087919.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>This is &#8216;world&#8217;s largest flower&#8217; but only for a while because\u2026<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants native to Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":15009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}