List of world records held by plants

World records held by plants.

Flower

Largest flowers

Individual flower

Corpse Flower (Rafflesia Arnoldii), the world largest flower

With a flower growing up to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in diameter, 3–4 m (9.8–13.1 ft) in perimeter and 10–12 kg (22–26 lb) heavy, Rafflesia arnoldii is the world's current largest individual flower. They grew in the forest of Sumatra, and Borneo island of Indonesia. With no roots, stems, leaves, and chlorophyll, they are parasitic to many plants on the roots of their vine. This made Rafflesia very hard to find a place for them in scientific taxonomy compared to other plant species. DNA analyses have shown that they belong to the Euphorbiaceae family, which is usually characterized by minute flower. 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 it's plump buds emerge from the host through the bark on parts of the host tree, out of the ground, when it ripens, and excrete fleshy scent of corpse to attract pollinators, which are carrion-flies^[2]

Inflorescence

Branched inflorescence

Corypha umbraculifera

Unbranched inflorescence

Titan arum

Fruit

Heaviest & largest fruit

Atlantic Giant Pumpkin is the world's currently heaviest, and largest fruit on earth ever grown. The Atlantic Giant is likely a descendant of Mammoth Pumpkin, which held the world record from 1904 to 1976.^[3]

Current record holder

The current records-breaking heavy-weighed fruit is still pumpkin but it is in 2014 that the new world record was proposed. The record-breaking pumpkin weighed 2,323.7 lb (1,054.0 kg). It was grown by Beni Meier. He broke 3 new world records in three weeks. This fruit was until today placed in the world record for heaviest fruit.^[4][5]

Previous record holder

Tim Mathison is the current record holder. On October 11, 2013, at Uesugi Farms Pumpkin Park, Morgan Hill, CA, Mathison brought in the world's record-breaking pumpkin, which weigh over brought his now world record pumpkin, which weighed 2032 lbs. He announced his secret that he grew his pumpkin from the seeds of 2009 Wallace seed crossed with the 1554 Mathison. Large pumpkins genetic is his secret to growing giant pumpkin.^[6]

Smallest & lightest fruit

The fruit of species in the genus of Wolffia is 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 (1/100th of an inch) and weighs about 70 micrograms (1/400,000 of an ounce). Amazingly that 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. 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.^[7]

See also

• List of superlative trees
• List of world's largest seeds
• List of world's largest mushrooms and conks
• List of world's longest vines

References