Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants in the family Rafflesiaceae. The species have enormous flowers, the buds rising from the ground or directly from the lower stems of their host plants; one species has the largest flower in the world. Plants of the World Online lists up to 41 species from this genus, all of them are found throughout Southeast Asia.
Rafflesia arnoldii, the corpse flower, or giant padma, is a species of flowering plant in the parasitic genus Rafflesia. It is noted for producing the largest individual flower on Earth. It has a strong and unpleasant odor of decaying flesh. It is native to the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo. Although there are some plants with larger flowering organs like the titan arum and talipot palm, those are technically clusters of many flowers.
The flora consists of many unique varieties of tropical plants. Blessed with a tropical climate and roughly 17,000 islands, Indonesia is the nation with the second highest biodiversity in the world. The flora of Ind reflects an intermingling of Asian, Australian and unique, Indonesian lineages. This is due to the geography of Indonesia, located between the aforementioned continents. The archipelago consists of a variety of regions, from the tropical rain forests of the northern lowlands and the seasonal forests of the southern lowlands through the hill and mountain vegetation, to subalpine shrub vegetation. With the second longest coastline in the world, Indonesia also has many swamps and other varieties of coastal vegetation. Combined, these all give rise to a huge floral biodiversity. There are about 28,000 species of flowering plants documented in Indonesia, including 2500 orchids, 122 species of bamboo, over 350 species of rattan and 400 species of Dipterocarpus, including ebony, sandalwood and teakwood. Indonesia is also home to some unusual species of carnivorous plants. One exceptional species is known as Rafflesia arnoldi, named after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles and Dr. Thomas Arnold, who discovered the flower in the depths of Bengkulu, southwest Sumatra. This parasitic plant has the largest flower of any plant, does not produce leaves and grows only on one species of liana on the rainforest floor. Another unusual plant is Amorphophallus titanum from Sumatra. Numerous species of insect trapping pitcher plants can also be found in Borneo, Sumatra, and other islands of the Indonesian archipelago. There are a staggering 6000 traditional medicinal plants used as Jamu.,
Rafflesia mira is a member of the genus Rafflesia. It is endemic to the rainforest of Mindanao, Philippines and can only be found in the vicinity of Mount Candalaga, Compostela Valley province. The species was described later in 2005 by Madulid et al., as R. magnifica, but this name is a later synonym. According to the IUCN the species is found in only one unprotected locality: Mt.Candalaga Range in Maragusan, Compostela Valley, where the individuals are distributed in small groups. A road infrastructure project is planned on part of the mountain. Moreover, the lower mountain slopes are being converted into banana plantations. Currently there are not any protective measures in place.
Rafflesia philippensis is a parasitic plant species of the Rafflesiaceae family that was named by Francisco Manuel Blanco in his Flora de Filipinas in 1845. The species is known only from a mountain located between the provinces of Laguna and Quezon, Luzon where it was first discovered. Its plant host is Tetrastigma pisicarpum. This species went unnoticed since its first description by Blanco but was rediscovered in 2003 by members of the Tanggol Kalikasan, a local environment conservation group in Quezon province who first saw and photographed the open flower of this species. It was brought to the attention of Manuel S. Enverga University (MSEUF), who formed a team composed of students and faculty to document the newly discovered Rafflesia species.
Rafflesia leonardi is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. It is endemic to the Philippines. Rafflesia banaoana is considered to be a synonym by some sources, but is recognized as a separate species by others. R. leonardi is the fourth Rafflesia species found in Luzon and the eighth from the Philippines. It is called ngaratngat by the local Agta tribesmen.
Rafflesia lobata is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. It is endemic to the Philippine island of Panay, particularly the mountains of Antique and Iloilo provinces. This is the second species recorded from the island of Panay. One of the most distinctive features of Rafflesia lobata is that some populations have flowers with a lobed diaphragm that opens outward. Nearly all other Rafflesia species have diaphragms that curve inward. This feature is polymorphic in R. lobata. As shown in the photos below, in some populations the diaphragm curves inward and may be 3- or 6-lobed. Note the 6-lobed flower also has 6 perigone lobes. It remains to be seen whether flower merousity has phylogenetic significance that should be taxonomically recognized. Some populations of R. manillana, such as one at Bolos Point, Cagayan Valley, Luzon, also have flowers with lobed, outwardly curving diaphragms.
Rafflesia manillana is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. It is endemic to the Philippines.
Rafflesia schadenbergiana is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. Known as "bó-o" to the Bagobo tribe and "kolon busaw" to the Higaonon tribe of Bukidnon, it has the largest flower among the Rafflesia species found in the Philippines with a diameter ranging from 52 to 80 centimeters. It has also the second largest flower in the genus after R. arnoldii.
Rafflesia speciosa is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. It is endemic to the Philippine island of Panay. R. speciosa is the third Rafflesia species documented to exist in the Philippines, after R. manillana and R. schadenbergiana. It belongs to the medium-sized Rafflesia. The species was named by Julie Barcelona and Edwino Fernando.
Rafflesia patma is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. It is only known to grow on the Indonesian island of Java, although it may have occurred on Sumatra in the past. Like other species in its genus, this plant has no leaves, stems, roots or chlorophyll, instead stealing all its nutrition from Tetrastigma lanceolaurium, a rainforest liana. The anatomy of this plant has devolved into mycelium-like strands of cells infecting the internal vascular system of its host. The species' five-lobed flowers measure 30 to 60cm across, and stink with the odour of rotting flesh. This stench attracts mostly female carrion flies searching for a place to lay their eggs. When they fly inside the large pot-like structure in the middle of the flower, they find a central column inside, topped with a wart-covered disc-like plate; under the rim of this plate they find a small crevice, into which they crawl believing they have found an opening into the soft parts of a rotting body -instead, the rim is shaped in such a way that, when investigating, their backs are thus smeared with the jelly-like pollen if the Rafflesia flower is male, or it is pressed against a zone of modified stigmas if the flower is female.
Rafflesia hasseltii It is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia and the family Rafflesiaceae which is hosted by certain Tetrastigma species. It can be found in Kerinci Seblat National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia. R. hasseltii has by far the widest variation in form, color and pattern of any of the Rafflesias.
Rafflesia bengkuluensis is a relatively new parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. It is native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It was discovered after extensive research of R. arnoldii by the Department of Forest University of Bengkulu when they noticed some organisms being significantly smaller and were eventually classified as a separate species.
Rafflesia gadutensis is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. It is native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. R. gadutensis was named after the place where it was first collected, Ulu Gadut, in West Sumatra.
Rafflesia cantleyi is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. It can be found in Peninsular Malaysia and Pulau Tioman, an island off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. This species is almost identical to R. hasseltii, except for the number of warts on the perigone lobes of the two species. Another distinctive feature of R. cantleyi is its ability to form flowers on the aerial portions of its host Tetrastigma.
Rafflesia kemumu is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. It is endemic to the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Tetrastigma leucostaphylum, the Indian chestnut vine, is a flowering plant in the family Vitaceae. It is native to Sri Lanka, India, Nepal and South East Asia.
Daniel Lee Nickrent is an American botanist, working in plant evolutionary biology, including the subdisciplines of genomics, phylogenetics, systematics, population genetics, and taxonomy. A major focus has been parasitic flowering plants, particularly of the sandalwood order (Santalales). His interest in photographic documentation and photographic databases has led to several photographic databases including Parasitic Plant Connection, Phytoimages, Plant Checklist for the Rocky Mountain National Park, and Plant Checklist for the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge.
Rafflesia meijeri is a species of parasitic flowering plant in the genus Rafflesia. It was first described by Harry Wiriadinata and Rismita Sari in 2010. It is known from a single location, Sicikeh-Cikeh, a nature park in North Sumatra.
Rafflesia lawangensis is a species of parasitic plant in the genus Rafflesia. It is exclusively found in Bukit Lawang, a small tourist village in Mount Leuser National Park, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Previously misidentified as Rafflesia arnoldii, photographs taken in 2005 led to the eventual separation of Rafflesia lawangensis as a distinct species in 2010.
