Which flower holds the record for the largest inflorescence in the world?

The flower that holds the record for the largest inflorescence in the world is the talipot palm.

The talipot palm, Corypha umbraculifera, produces an enormous branched flowering structure at the top of its trunk. It can carry one to several million tiny flowers, making the whole inflorescence much larger than a typical flower head. The species is native to southern and eastern India and Sri Lanka and is cultivated elsewhere in tropical Asia.

The record needs one important botanical distinction. An inflorescence is a cluster or arrangement of flowers, not necessarily one single flower. The titan arum is famous for having the largest unbranched inflorescence, while Rafflesia arnoldii is often described as having the world’s largest individual flower. Those are different records, which is why the choices can be confusing.

Talipot palms are monocarpic: they flower only once, usually after decades of growth, then produce fruit and die. A mature palm can reach about 25 metres tall, with fan-shaped leaves several metres across.