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Cassidy Moody

While cross pollinating the trees helps breed genetic diversity, horticulturalists can also clone them from cuttings.

A close-up of the Karomia gigas leaf. In the wild, the trees have been observed dropping all their leaves during the dry season.

The Karomia gigas trees growing at the Missouri Botanical Garden are three years old and already about six feet tall.

The Karomia gigas purple flower lasted only 24 hours before it wilted. Horticulturalists at the Missouri Botanical Garden expect more to bloom in the coming weeks, a hopeful sign for the rare Karomia gigas tree.