World’s largest flower discovered in Aurora forests

World’s largest flower discovered in Aurora forests CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga -- A team of biologists and biodiversity experts have recently found the world's largest flower, Rafflesia manillana in the thick forests of the Sierra Madre mountains in Aurora. Maximo Dichoso, executive director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional office here, said that the Rafflesia manillana is in their list of threatened species and can be also be found in Mt. Natib in Bataan, Mt. Makiling in Laguna, Mt. Labo in Bicol, and on Samar Island Natural Park in Samar. Forester Max Millan, Jr. was accompanying a team of biologists from the National Museum of the Philippines led by Dr. Edwin Tadiosa when they found a Rafflesia bloom while surveying reptiles and amphibian inside the 5,000-hectare Aurora Memorial National Park. Millan said the flower is in full bloom, with a diameter of 17 centimeters. Considered critically endangered, Rafflesia manillana is a genus of tropical parasitic plants that do not contain a chlorophyll, and therefore, incapable of photosynthesis. Scientists estimate that there are 17 Rafflesia species distributed throughout Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, there are at least 11 recognized species of Rafflesia, four of which are found in Luzon. "The presence of such flower in the area only proves the rich biodiversity in Aurora’s forests," Dichoso said. Aurora Memorial National Park spans more than 5,000 hectares of mostly lowland dipterocarp forests in the Sierra Madre mountain range at the border of Nueva Ecija and Aurora. Rising to 1,000 meters above sea level, Aurora Memorial National Park is home to 19 species of amphibians, 30 species of reptiles, and eight species of birds including the endangered Philippine Eagle. The park has been declared a protected area under Proclamation No. 744 of 1941 and was dedicated to the late first lady Aurora Aragon Quezon. In 2011, two species of forest mice of the genus Apomys were also discovered in the Mingan Mountains in Aurora. The biodiversity expedition found at least 304 species of plants and 142 species of animals thriving in the 17,000-hectare forests in Central Luzon’s tallest mountain, including six other plant species that can only be found in Luzon. (PNA)