Rafflesia Center Everyone's dream should include seeing the Rafflesia - the largest flower in the world. The record size, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is a Rafflesia arnoldii, which stretched 91cms or 3 feet in diameter, 1.9 cms or 3/4 inch thick and weighed 7 kgs or 15 lbs.
In many ways, this magnificently colourful flower is strange and baffling to visitors. It blooms as a single flower which has no roots, no stem and no leaves as well.
In addition, each flower produces just one seed and this seed can only germinate if it succeeds in lodging itself in the tissue of one particular cissus vine host known as Tetrastigma, which usually crawls along the rainforest floors. This is why the Rafflesia is usually floor bound. The flower extracts food from the vine by extending threadlike filaments into its tissue. Its penchant for attaching exclusively to the Tetrastigma partly explains why the flower is very rare and sighting depends on correct timing, keeping touch with the local community, and luck.
Some ecologist believe only big animals like wild boars, which accidentally pick up Rafflesia seeds on their hoofs, are heavy enough to implant the seeds into the cissus tissues. Sabah offers fair chances for people in the world to see this floral wonder.
There are several known sites, such as Poring Hot Springs at the Kinabalu Park which are fairly accessible. But one particular place where this unique flower, especially Rafflesia Pricei species occur extensively is a 386 acres Tambunan Rafflesia Reserve which is sited in a forest reverse consisting of a mixture of temperate oaks, chestnut type and highland dipterocarps forest.
The Tambunan Rafflesia Reserve is located conveniently by the roadside of Kota Kinabalu/Tambunan Highways and is only 58km from Kota Kinabalu. At the entrance of this reserve is a Rafflesia Information Centre. There are eight trails for trekkers including a Rafflesia Trial that leads to the flowering sites.
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