MORPHOLOGY AND ANATOMY OF BUA PUD (RAFFLESIA KERRII MEIJER) IN THAILAND

Abstract

Bua Pud (Rafflesia kerrii Meijer), in the Family Rafflesiaceae, has no true leaves, stemns and roots. It is endemic plant in southern Thailand. R. kerrii is parasitic on the root of host plant. Its morphological data is still incomplete and the knowledge about anatomy of this plant species is also very scarce. Thus, the purposes of this research were to study the morphology and anatomy of R. kerrii. The methods used were the morphological description of this plant and the microtechniques for anatomical study. The research found that R. kerrii was parasitic on the root of Tetrastigma lanceolarium (Roxb.) Pl. which was the climber in the Family Vitidaceae. The flower bud on the root of host plant spent 8-9months to full bloom. The open flowers occurred naturally during February-April, with 50-80 cm in diameter and 6-8 kilograms in fresh weight. It was ac accepted as Thailand's largest flower. The flowers were unisexual. The distinguishing characteristics of the open flower were the dark-red perigone lobes, diaphragm, central disk, and the processes which had two types; spiny and branched processes. The flower bloomed 5-7 days and produced very strong smell during this period. After this, it collapsed, decayed and fell down from the root of T. lanceolarium. The anatomy of R. kerrit's flower showed that each flower part had simple and uncomplicated structure. The upper and lower parts of the structure were epidermal cell layers. The tissue between the epidermal cell layers was the ground tissue which was mainly compo posed of parenchyma cells. There were vascular bundles and starch grains occurred in the ground tissue. The starch grains were mainly gathered in the vascular bundles. The flower bud of R. kerrii developed in the root cortex of T. Ianceolarium emerged out to the root surface, and develop latter to young flower and open flower.