Biology:List of world records held by plants

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Short description: Records held by plant species

The following article contains world records which have been awarded to plants, for both individual plants as well as overall records held by a species.

Flower

Main page: Biology:List of largest inflorescences

Largest flowers

Individual flower

Rafflesia arnoldii, the world largest flower in Bengkulu - Indonesia

With a flower growing up to 1.5 m (5 ft) in diameter, 3–4 m (10–13 ft) in perimeter and 10–12 kg (22–26 lb) in weight, Rafflesia arnoldii is the world's current largest individual flower. They grow in the forests of Sumatra and Borneo islands of Indonesia. With no roots, stems, leaves or chlorophyll, they are parasitic to many species of wild East Indian grapes (Tetrastigma spp) on the roots and stems of their vine. This made Rafflesia very hard to place in scientific taxonomy compared to other plant species. DNA analyses have shown that they belong to the family Euphorbiaceae (sensu lato) but they are usually placed in a family of their own (Rafflesiaceae),.[verification needed] The most famous plant species in this family are Spurges, Cassava, and rubber tree.[1] The very existence of the plant can only become visible when its plump buds emerge from the host through the bark on parts of the host tree, out of the ground, when it ripens, and excretes a fleshy scent of corpse to attract pollinators, which are carrion-flies.[2]

Longest Flower

The world's longest flower is the Pelican Flower (Aristolochia grandiflora) of the Dutchman's Pipe Family (Aristolochiaceae). It is widespread in southern Mexico, Central America and the West Indies. The flower, a greatly expanded calyx, is up to twenty inches (51 centimeters) in width with a bulbous, globular shape, with one sepal extending up to ten feet (three meters),[3] or possibly even to 13 feet (four meters) in length.[4] while being only one-half inch (one centimeter) in width. It is also by a wide margin the largest single sepal known.

Smallest Flower

Balanophora involucrata of the Himalayas has a capitate inflorescence with myriads of tiny flowers each measuring only 1/1,000th of an inch (25 micrometers) in width.[5] The capitulum can contain as many as ten million (10,000,000) florets.[6] Each floret weighs approximately seven micrograms (about 4,000,000 to the ounce).[7]

Smallest complete flower

A complete flower is one having all four of the basic organs; sepals, petals, stamens and carpels. Parishes Wild Buckwheat (Eriogonum parishii) of the Buckwheat Family (Polygonaceae) native to Upper and Baja California. This pink, trimerous flower has 3 sepals, 3 petals, 3 stamens and a pistil of three carpels, yet it measures only 1/40th of an inch (0.6 millimeter) in length.[8]

Inflorescence

Branched inflorescence
Corypha umbraculifera

Corypha umbraculifera,also known as the " talipot palm", is the largest branched inflorescence plant in the world. it is native to eastern and southern India and Sri Lanka. This plant lives up to 60 years and flowers only once in its lifetime.

Unbranched inflorescence

Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), also known as the "corpse flower", is a flowering plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. The titan arum's inflorescence is not as large as that of the talipot palm, Corypha umbraculifera, but the inflorescence of the talipot palm is branched rather than unbranched. It is endemic to Sumatra, Java and Bali, all in Indonesia. The titan arum is described as a carrion flower, and is also known as the corpse flower or corpse plant (Indonesian: bunga bangkai: bunga means flower, while bangkai can be translated as corpse, cadaver, or carrion). For the same reason, the title "corpse flower" is also sometimes attributed to the genus Rafflesia.

Fruit

Heaviest and largest fruit

The current world record holder for heaviest fruit is a pumpkin weighing 2703 pounds (1.226 tonnes), which was grown by Stefano Cutrupi.[9][10]

Smallest and lightest fruit

The fruit of species in the genus of Wolffia are the smallest and lightest fruit in the world. Two of the smallest species of Wolffia in the world, the Australian Wolffia angusta, and the Asian/African Wolffia globosa, are so small that it is difficult to distinguish between the size of their fruits. The fruit of W. angusta is 0.30 mm long (1/80th of an inch) and weighs about 70 micrograms (1/400,000 of an ounce). Even though it is the smallest fruit in the world, it is one of the largest fruits relative to the size of the parent plant. The common size of the parent plant of the two example species of Wolffia is less than one millimetre in length (less than 1/25th of an inch). This means the small ripe fruit of the genus takes up a third or more of the length of the parent plant.[11]

See also root

References

  1. ↑ Anitei, Stefan. "The Largest Flower in the World". Softpedia. http://archive.news.softpedia.com/news/The-Largest-Flower-in-the-World-57938.shtml. Retrieved 12 May 2015. 
  2. ↑ Tredwell, Emma; de Kok, Rogier; Davis, Steve. "Rafflesia arnoldii (corpse flower)". http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:316069-1. Retrieved 12 May 2015. 
  3. ↑ Pfeifer, Prof. Howard W. (November 1966). "Revision of the North and Central American Species of Aristolochia". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Gartden 53 (2): 164.  and correspondance from Prof (emeritus) Howard W. Pfeifer
  4. ↑ Rohwer, Jens G. Ph.D. (2002). Tropical Plants of the World. New York: Sterling Pub. Co.. p. 208. 
  5. ↑ Haywood, Prof. V.H. (1978). Flowering Plants of the World. New York: Mayflower Books. p. 176. 
  6. ↑ Hansen, B.. "Balanophoraceae". Flora Malesiana 7 (series 1) (4): 791. 
  7. ↑ Cransbrook, Earl of (1988). Key Environments - Malaysia. Oxford, England: Pergamon Books. p. 68. 
  8. ↑ Munz, Phillip A.; Keck, David D. (1959). A California Flora. Berkeley, Calf.: Univ. of Calif. Press. p. 341. 
  9. ↑ "Heaviest pumpkin | Guinness World Records". 2016-10-06. http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com:80/world-records/heaviest-pumpkin. 
  10. ↑ "Heaviest pumpkin" (in en-GB). https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/heaviest-pumpkin. 
  11. ↑ Armstrong, Wayne P.. "The World's Smallest Fruit". W.P. Armstrong. http://waynesword.palomar.edu/plfeb96.htm. Retrieved 8 May 2015. 



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