Tallest flower blooms in Antique town

In the town of San Remegio, Antique province grows one of the world’s amazing tallest flower, the Amorphophallus sp., also known among the locals as “Uruy.”

San Remegio is a landlocked municipality in the coastal province of Antique, and its estimated elevation is at 106.4 meters above sea level.

Almost 70 percent of San Remegio is mountainous while the remaining are flat lowlands and rolling hills. Aside from its rivers being rich with gemstones, the town is also host to the world’s tallest flower.

In this time of the pandemic, many leisure activities have become impossible. Yet, even with movement restrictions, Kim Hannibal Francisco and his group of friends trekked up the mountains of Brgy. Sumaray, San Remegio on May 24, 2020 and they were surprised to discover a blooming Uruy at 7 feet and 9 inches.

Francisco posted in his social media account a photo of “Uruy” which, according to Dr. Pieter B. Pelser, is not a flower but a cluster of flowers or inflorescence. It is a flowering plant with the smell of a rotting corpse that usually grows in openings of rainforests.

Together with personnel from the Local Government Unit (LGU) of San Remegio, Francisco and his friends returned to the site for the flower to be tagged and analyzed.

This plant is now another floral attraction aside from the world’s largest flowers, the Rafflesia speciosa and Rafflesia lobata.

“Antique is a province where mountains meet the sea and is blessed with many natural wonders including the world’s tallest and largest flowers. I encourage all Antiqueños to remain vigilant in protecting their precious resources and their unique forest ecosystem,” DENR regional executive director Francisco E. Milla Jr. said. (DENR-6)