Rafflesia

Consider yourself lucky indeed if you have seen the giant flowers of Rafflesia. This strange plant lives as a parasite on the roots of vines related to the common grape. It produces neither leaves nor stems, only roots that penetrate and spread within the host plant. Rarely and unpredictably, the cabbage-like brown bud of Rafflesiaemerge above ground, and slowly opens to a flower like no other. One species on the Indonesian island of Sumatra (Rafflesia arnoldii) produces the flower on record, reaching up to a meter in diameter.Rafflesia can also claim the title of the stinkiest flower in the world: As with the elephant-foot yam, the overpowering odor emitted by an opened flower can be mistaken for the smell of rotting meat. Rafflesia's brownish-purple flower is unappealing to most insects, but carrion flies attracted by the odor and color of these flowers and pollinate them. It will come as no surprise to learn that in the Malay language the plant is called bunga-bangkay—"the corpse flower."
      This striking genus of strange parasites was named in honor of Sir Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore. There are at least a dozen species in Southeast Asia, two of them unique to the Philippines. One is a small-flowered species, Rafflesia manillana, now listed as highly endangered. The other, large-flowered species, Rafflesia schadenbergiana, may be extinct. R. manillana has been seen in recent years on Mount Isarog, but R. schadenbergiana has not been seen since the first specimen was collected in 1882 on Mount Apo in southern Mindanao. Numerous attempts to find the species, most recently our own in 1994, have been unsuccessful. Deforestation by logging and agricultural clearing on the lower foothills of Mount Apo has apparently caused the extinction.

Original URL: http://archive.fieldmuseum.org/vanishing_treasures/V_Rafflesia.htm