<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/1e39b638-8113-461e-b572-758e3f6a79de/24ADC174-5009-4B11-BC17-510ECCB1B447/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/2006/03/29/the-largest-rarest-flower-in-the-world/" href="http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/2006/03/29/the-largest-rarest-flower-in-the-world/" style="font-size: 11px;">www.kirchersociety.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/2006/03/29/the-largest-rarest-flower-in-the-world/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.kirchersociety.org/img/DDF82B94-0C6D-43BD-BC06-8379DDD5B419" alt="rafflesia_inhands.jpg" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/2006/03/29/the-largest-rarest-flower-in-the-world/"><P>Flowers of the genus <EM><A href="http://sabahtravelguide.com/travelogue/details.asp?articleid=55">Rafflesia</A></EM> are the largest and perhaps rarest in the world. They take from 9 to 21 months to bud, and then bloom for just a week:</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/2006/03/29/the-largest-rarest-flower-in-the-world/">The Rafflesia has no leaves, stem or roots. It grows invisibly inside the roots of certain woody vines </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/2006/03/29/the-largest-rarest-flower-in-the-world/">Most buds rot before they attain maturity, but when they finally open after nine or more months they display five huge, fleshy petals that can reach in extreme cases almost one meter in diameter and weigh over seven kilogrammes.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/2006/03/29/the-largest-rarest-flower-in-the-world/"><P>Earlier this month a <A href="http://news.inq7.net/regions/index.php?index=1&story_id=68447">new species</A> of <EM>Rafflesia</EM> was discovered in the Philippines.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/2006/03/29/the-largest-rarest-flower-in-the-world/"><P>FOLLOWUP: <A href="http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/plants_and_algae/Rafflesia_spp/more_moving_images.html">Videos</A> of Rafflesia in bloom.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/2006/03/29/the-largest-rarest-flower-in-the-world/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.kirchersociety.org/img/D9BD7EE3-AF09-4CB7-9D3D-6C828DE47476" alt="rafflesia2.jpg" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/2006/03/29/the-largest-rarest-flower-in-the-world/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.kirchersociety.org/img/9535E386-8D66-40C8-90F9-E22BABA8A732" alt="rafflesia1.jpg" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/2006/03/29/the-largest-rarest-flower-in-the-world/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.kirchersociety.org/img/7D816876-9430-4F9A-9692-AC71FD93DE9D" alt="rafflesia3.jpg" /></div></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/24ADC174-5009-4B11-BC17-510ECCB1B447/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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