Giant Rotten-Smelling Parasite Flower Rafflesia Evokes Host Defenses

Little is known about how the Rafflesia parasites can affect plants. Rafflesia spends most of its life span as a tangle of strandlike cells hidden beneath the bark of a vine. These blooms can reach 20 pounds and three feet across and smell like rotting meat. Since the beginning of the year, Long Island University plant Biologist Jeanmaire Molina has been trying to get Rafflesia seeds to help her in her attempts to get Tetrastigma seedlings to grow.

For a new study in Planta, Molina and her colleagues screened over 10,000 chemicals that came from rain forests in the Philippines. The researchers found elevated levels of benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, a group of compounds that include morphine and codeine, in non-infecting cuttings.