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Flora of Indonesia

Stinky plants and animals

Reading Time:4 minutes
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Corpse Flowers

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We keep flowers in the house for their lovely sent/scent. But there are flowers that smell really bad.

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Some flowers smell like rotting meat. These flowers are nicknamed corpse flowers. They are also called carrion (pronounced carry-on) flowers because carrion is a word for rotting meat.

Scientists say the stink of corpse flowers helps the plants to bread/breed.

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The terrible smell attracts bees and other insects. They visit the corpse flowers, stand on the flower petals, and drink the sweet hectare/nectar the flower makes. While the insects are drinking, pollen from the flower sticks to their legs.

When the insects move on and visit other flowers, they spread the pollen. This helps the plants to reproduce.

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