Linggo, Oktubre 9, 2016
The Rafflesia: the most celebrated flower in Antique Province.
During the Binirayan Festival, there were different competitions like the Rafflesia Inspired Costume, Rafflesia Inspired Drum & Bugle and the Top 10 Rafflesia Designers Battle. It is used as a theme and décor of floats and costumes. Even the park and the municipality where it was first found adopted the flower as its symbol.
Rafflesia speciosa Barcelona and Fernando
In 2002 a Rafflesia was seen blooming on the island of Panay, Antique province, Sibalom Natural Park (SNP) near the town of Sibalom. Sightings were also been reported in the adjacent town of San Remegio (also in Antique province) and nearby barangays at the Antique-Iloilo border. Up to this point in time, two species of Rafflesia had been described from the Philippine islands: R. manillana from the island of Leyte (Basey) with extant populations only on Luzon (Mt. Makiling) and R. schadenbergiana from Mindanao (Mt. Apo). The latter species had not been seen since 1882 when it was first collected (Hieronymus s.n.). The plant was described by Göppert in 1885 whereas R. manillana was named by Teschemacher in 1842. These two species are easily distiguished from each other: R. manillana has a flower 15-20 cm in diameter (the smallest of all Rafflesia species) whereas the flower of R. schadenbergiana is one of the largest (up to 80 cm wide).
On March 15, 2002, I was contacted by Mr. Albert T. Mamora Jr., a biology graduate who now writes for a weekly newspaper in the province of Antique. He asked how one could identify the Philippine species of Rafflesia and suggested that the flower he was seeing was a new species. A series of correspondences ensued, and eventually I was directed to contact Dr. Julie Barcelona, a Botanist with the Philippine National Herbarium (PNH), National Museum of the Philippines in Manila. As it turns out, Julie, along with Dr. Edwino S. Fernando, was already involved in naming this new species of Rafflesia!
The discovery of this plant caused quite a sensation in the SNP where it was found. Many tourists visited the site and the event was covered by the local newspapers and television stations. The plant was first discovered by members of The Antique Outdoors (TAO), a conservation group in the province of Antique, Panay Island. Although the SNP is protected, Julie is working hard to ensure that additional sites where the plant was found are also protected. Presented below are some photographs, taken by Albert Mamora, Julie Barcelona and members of TAO.
Rafflesia lobata
The Rafflesia lobata flowers the whole year but you’ll find most of it blooms in the months of February to June. It grows above 400-900 meters above sea level and its distinct feature is the lobed diaphragm of the flowers that opens outward.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/mzOzVq49TtDXN3Hd9m6Cjf-dSUdrMvOsVBFgjzLzgnw1U-XAeCBFHPtHmurDNIUls4cW=w1366-h768-no
Antique: Home to the Biggest Flower in the World
Why was this called "corpse flower"?
The Rafflesia is known as the world’s biggest exotic flower. But don’t be misled, though called as a “flower,” its smells awful that it is also referred as a “corpse flower.”
Rafflesia has a total of 28 species only found in South East Asia. Out of the 28 species, 10 are found in the Philippines!
In Luzon, there’s the Rafflesia manillana that is also considered as the smallest Rafflesia in the world. Other species are found in Compostela Valley, Laguna and Kalinga to name a few locations.
The 2 other species, Rafflesia speciosa and Rafflesia lobata, are endemic in Panay Island.
Biggest flower in the world found in Culasi,Antique
What is the flower Rafflesia?
Rafflesia speciosa is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. It is endemic to the Philippine island of Panay.R. speciosa is the thirdRafflesia species documented to exist in the Philippines, after R. manillana and R. schadenbergiana. It belongs to the medium-sized Rafflesia(Meijer, 1997). The species was named by Julie Barcelona and Edwino Fernando.
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