Birthday
HydrangeasThe world's largest flowers look nothing like bouquet roses: one weighs up to 10 kg and smells of rotting meat, another rises taller than a person and opens for just a day, and a third waits almost a century to bloom. Here are the record-breakers of the plant world, the difference between a flower and an inflorescence, and some "giants" you can grow in a Ukrainian garden.
Flower or inflorescence: why it matters
Botanists distinguish between a single flower and an inflorescence, a cluster of many small flowers on a shared stem. That is why there are several "largest flowers": rafflesia really is one flower, while titan arum and puya produce giant inflorescences. Sunflowers cause similar confusion: the "flower" is actually a head of hundreds of tiny flowers.
Rafflesia arnoldii: the largest single flower
Rafflesia grows in the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo. Its flower reaches about 1 metre across and weighs up to 10 kg, yet the plant has no leaves, stems or true roots: it is a parasite living inside Tetrastigma vines and emerges only as a huge bud. Its fleshy red, white-spotted petals smell of carrion to attract pollinating flies. The open flower lasts only 5–7 days. Rafflesia is one of Indonesia's national flowers and a protected plant.
Titan arum: the tallest inflorescence
This Sumatran endemic is known as the "corpse flower". Its inflorescence, a spadix wrapped in a giant maroon spathe, can exceed 3 metres. The plant stores energy in an underground corm weighing over 100 kg and blooms only every few years. Flowering lasts just 24–48 hours, during which the spadix warms to nearly body temperature to spread its rotting-meat smell. It first bloomed in cultivation at Kew Gardens in London in 1889, and today every bloom in a botanic garden draws queues of visitors. In the wild it is endangered.
Puya raimondii: queen of the Andes
This relative of the pineapple grows in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia at 3,000–4,800 m. For decades it looks like a huge spiky rosette, then it sends up a flower spike up to 10 metres tall bearing thousands of greenish-white flowers. Puya blooms once in its life, at somewhere between 40 and 100 years old by various estimates, and then dies.
Talipot palm: the largest branched inflorescence
This South Asian palm lives for several decades, then once in its life produces a branched inflorescence 6–8 metres tall with millions of tiny flowers, the largest branched inflorescence in the world. After its fruit ripens, the palm dies.
Giants on the water
Among aquatic plants, Victoria has the largest flowers: its white blooms, 30–40 cm across, open in the evening and turn pink on the second night. More in Victoria giant water lily. Sacred lotus flowers also reach 25–30 cm.
Big flowers for a Ukrainian garden
- Dinnerplate dahlias: flower heads 25–30 cm across.
- Swamp rose mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos): flowers up to 25–30 cm, hardy in central Ukraine; see hardy hibiscus.
- Sunflowers: heads 30 cm or more in large varieties.
- Tree peonies: flowers up to 20–25 cm.
- Magnolias: some species have flowers up to 25–30 cm.
To impress with a big bouquet, choose hydrangeas, peonies, large roses or proteas; browse our peony catalogue.
Frequently asked questions
What is the largest flower in the world?
Among single flowers, Rafflesia arnoldii (up to 1 m); among unbranched inflorescences, the titan arum (over 3 m).
Why do big flowers smell rotten?
To attract carrion flies and beetles that pollinate them.
Can you see a titan arum in Ukraine?
Titan arums are grown in botanic garden glasshouses, which usually announce blooms in advance.
What is the biggest flower I can grow at home?
Outdoors, dahlias, swamp rose mallow and sunflowers; indoors, hippeastrum with flowers up to 20 cm.
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Author: Maria Svitlovir
Graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Biology and Medicine (2001). BSc in Biology, MSc in Horticulture. Writes about plants, works at a garden centre selecting and repotting plants, and contributes to plant reference guides.
