Rafflesia
Rafflesia arnoldii flower and bud
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Malpighiales Family: Rafflesiaceae Genus: Rafflesia R.Br.
Species
See text. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (600 × 800 pixel, file size: 153 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... For other uses, see Scientific classification (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Plant (disambiguation). ... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also angiosperms or Magnoliophyta) are one of the major groups of modern plants, comprising those that produce seeds in specialized reproductive organs called flowers, where the ovulary or carpel is enclosed. ... Magnoliopsida is the botanical name for a class of flowering plants. ... Families Family Achariaceae Family Balanopaceae Family Bonnetiaceae Family Caryocaraceae Family Chrysobalanaceae Family Clusiaceae Family Ctenolophonaceae Family Dichapetalaceae Family Elatinaceae Family Erythryloxaceae (coca family) Family Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) Family Euphroniaceae Family Goupiaceae Family Humiriaceae Family Hypericaceae (St Johns wort family) Family Irvingiaceae Family Ixonanthaceae Family Lacistemaceae Family Linaceae (flax family... Genera See text. ... Robert Brown (1773–1858) Robert Brown (December 21, 1773–June 10, 1858) is acknowledged as the leading British botanist to collect in Australia during the first half of the 19th century. ... For other uses, see Species (disambiguation). ...

Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants. It was discovered in the Indonesian rain forest by an Indonesian guide working for Dr. Joseph Arnold in 1818, and named after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the leader of the expedition. It contains 15-19 species (including four incompletely characterized species as recognized by Meijer 1997), all found in southeastern Asia, on the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra and Kalimantan, West Malaysia, and the Philippines. The plant has no stems, leaves or true roots. It is an endoparasite of vines in the genus Tetrastigma (Vitaceae), spreading its root-like haustoria inside the tissue of the vine. The only part of the plant that can be seen outside the host vine is the five-petaled flower. In some species, such as Rafflesia arnoldii, the flower may be over 100 cm in diameter, and weigh up to 10 kg. Even the smallest species, R. manillana, has 20 cm diameter flowers. The flowers look and smell like rotting meat, hence its local names which translate to "corpse flower" or "meat flower" (but see below). The vile smell that the flower gives off attracts insects such as carrion flies, which transport pollen from male to female flowers. Little is known about seed dispersal, however, tree shrews and other forest mammals apparently eat the fruits and disperse the seeds. Rafflesia is an official state flower of Sabah in Malaysia, as well as for the Surat Thani Province, Thailand. For other uses, see Genus (disambiguation). ... A parasite is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life in or on the living tissue of a host organism and which causes harm to the host without immediately killing it. ... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of land plants. ... A rainforest is a forested biome with high annual rainfall. ... Joseph Arnold (28 December 1782-26 July 1818) was a naval surgeon and naturalist. ... Year 1818 (MDCCCXVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (6 July 1781 - 5 July 1826) was the founder of the city (now country) of Singapore, and is one of the best-known of the many Britons who created the largest empire the world has ever seen. ... Willem Wim Meijer (1923 – October 22, 2003) was a Dutch botanist and plant collector. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... For other uses, see Asia (disambiguation). ... The Malay Peninsula (Malay: Semenanjung Tanah Melayu) is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia. ... Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. ... Sumatra (also spelled Sumatera) is the sixth largest island in the world (approximately 470,000 km²) and is the largest island entirely in Indonesia (two larger islands, Borneo and New Guinea, are partially in Indonesia). ... Kalimantan is the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. ... Peninsular Malaysia (or Semenanjung Malaysia in the Malay language) is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula, and shares a land border with Thailand in the north. ... A parasite is an organism that lives in or on the living tissue of a host organism at the expense of that host. ... Tetrastigma is a genus of plants in the grape family, Vitaceae. ... Genera Acareosperma Ampelocissus Ampelopsis (peppervine) Cayratia Cissus (treebind, treebine) Clematicissus Cyphostemma Nothocissus Parthenocissus (creeper) Pterisanthes Pterocissus Rhoicissus Tetrastigma Vitis (grape) Vua The Vitaceae (or Vitidaceae) are a family of dicots including the grape and Virginia creeper. ... Haustorium, plural Haustoria, is the hyphal tip of a parasitic fungus that penetrates the hosts tissue, but stays outside the host cell membrane. ... For other uses, see Flower (disambiguation). ... Binomial name R.Br. ... This article is about the food. ... Genera Tupaia Anathana Urogale Dendrogale Lyonogale Ptilocercus The tree shrews are small, squirrel-like mammals native to the tropical forests of South-east Asia. ... For other uses, see Sabah (disambiguation). ... Surat Thani (often in short Surat, Thai: ) is the largest of the southern provinces (changwat) of Thailand, on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand. ...

The name "corpse flower" applied to Rafflesia is confusing because this common name also refers to the Titan Arum (Amorphophallus titanum) of the family Araceae. Moreover, because Amorphophallus has the world's largest unbranched inflorescence, it is sometimes mistakenly credited as having the world's largest flower. Both Rafflesia and Amorphophallus are flowering plants, but they are still distantly related. Rafflesia arnoldii has the largest single flower of any flowering plant, at least when one judges this by weight. Amorphophallus titanum has the largest unbranched inflorescence, while the Talipot palm (Corypha umbraculifera) forms the largest branched inflorescence, containing thousands of flowers; this plant is monocarpic, meaning that individuals die after flowering. Binomial name Amorphophallus titanum (Becc. ... Genera See text. ... Red clover inflorescence (spike) An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers on a branch of a plant. ... Binomial name R.Br. ... Binomial name Corypha umbraculifera L. The Talipot palm (Corypha umbraculifera) is one of the largest species of palm tree in the world. ...

Classification

Rafflesia arnoldii bloom, approximately 80 cm in diameter

R. kerrii flower

Three Rafflesia pricei growing in close proximity near Mount Kinabalu, Borneo.

New hypothesis of Rafflesiaceae derived from within Euphorbiaceae. Rafflesiaceae in red, Euphorbiaceae in black (redrawn from Davis et al., 2007).

Species

• Rafflesia arnoldii
• Rafflesia baletei
• Rafflesia banahaw
• Rafflesia cantleyi
• Rafflesia gadutensis
• Rafflesia hasseltii
• Rafflesia keithii
• Rafflesia kerrii
• Rafflesia lobata
• Rafflesia manillana
• Rafflesia micropylora
• Rafflesia mira
• Rafflesia patma
• Rafflesia pricei
• Rafflesia rochussenii
• Rafflesia schadenbergiana
• Rafflesia speciosa
• Rafflesia tengku-adlinii
• Rafflesia tuan-mudae

Unverified species

• Rafflesia borneensis
• Rafflesia ciliata
• Rafflesia titan
• Rafflesia witkampii

Comparison of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences of Rafflesia with other angiosperm mtDNA indicated that this parasite evolved from photosynthetic plants of the order Malpighiales.^[1]. Another study from that same year confirmed this result using both mtDNA and nuclear DNA sequences, and showed that three other groups traditionally classified in Rafflesiaceae were unrelated ^[2]. A more recent study found Rafflesia and its relatives to be embedded within the family Euphorbiaceae, which is surprising as members of that family typically have very small flowers.^[3] According to their analysis, the rate of flower size evolution was more or less constant throughout the family except at the origin of Rafflesiaceae, where the flowers rapidly evolved to become much larger before reverting to the slower rate of change. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1024x681, 630 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Sumatra Rafflesia Rafflesia arnoldii Flora of Indonesia ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1024x681, 630 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Sumatra Rafflesia Rafflesia arnoldii Flora of Indonesia ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1840x1232, 1010 KB) Rafflesia kerrii Meijer, closeup of the flower. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1840x1232, 1010 KB) Rafflesia kerrii Meijer, closeup of the flower. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1984 × 1488 pixel, file size: 717 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Rafflesia pricei near Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1984 × 1488 pixel, file size: 717 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Rafflesia pricei near Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. ... Mount Kinabalu (Malay: Gunung Kinabalu) is a prominent mountain in Southeast Asia. ... Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (869x504, 11 KB) New classification of Rafflesiaceae within Euphorbiaceae. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (869x504, 11 KB) New classification of Rafflesiaceae within Euphorbiaceae. ... Binomial name R.Br. ... Binomial name Rafflesia kerrii Meijer Rafflesia arnoldii is a member of the genus Rafflesia. ... Mitochondrial DNA (some captions in German) Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria. ... Families Family Achariaceae Family Balanopaceae Family Bonnetiaceae Family Caryocaraceae Family Chrysobalanaceae Family Clusiaceae Family Ctenolophonaceae Family Dichapetalaceae Family Elatinaceae Family Erythryloxaceae (coca family) Family Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) Family Euphroniaceae Family Goupiaceae Family Humiriaceae Family Hypericaceae (St Johns wort family) Family Irvingiaceae Family Ixonanthaceae Family Lacistemaceae Family Linaceae (flax family... Genera See text Ref: Euphorbiaceae in The Families of Flowering Plants, as of 2002-07-13 The Spurge family (Euphorbiaceae) is a large family of flowering plants with 280 genera and around 6000 species. ... Genera See text. ...

Philippine species

Since 2002 there has been a tremendous amount of activity by Filipino scientists who have discovered and named several new species of Rafflesia. Before this time there were two species known: R. manillana and R. schadenbergiana, the latter of which was last seen in 1882 on Mt. Apo in Davao Province on Mindanao Island, but was thought to be extinct. The following gives a chronical of these activities: Mount Apo is the highest mountain in the Philippines and overlooks Davao City, a few kilometres to the northeast. ... Davao refers to several places in Mindanao in the Philippines. ... Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. ...

• 2002. A Rafflesia was found in the mountains of Antique Province that differed from any previously described. It was named Rafflesia speciosa by Barcelona and Fernando (Kew Bulletin, 57: 647-651, 2002).
• 2005. Another Rafflesia was discovered in the Philippines by Drs. Fernando and Ong on remote Mt. Candalaga, Maragusan, Campostela Valley Province on Mindanao and named Rafflesia mira by Fernando and Ong (2005. Asia Life Sciences 14: 263-270). Another group (Madulid et al. 2005 Acta Manilana 53: 1-6) published another name (R. magnifica) later, thus R. mira stands as the nomenclaturally valid name. R. mira (29 cm in diameter), is much larger than R. speciosa (18-20 cm) of Antique Province, and definitely larger than Luzon’s R. manillana (14-20 cm in diameter).^[4]
• 2005. During his expedition to Mt. Igtuog and Mt. Sakpaw in the Central Panay mountain range in April 2005, Renee Galang discovered a previously undescribed Rafflesia. This was named R. lobata by Galang and Madulid (2006, Folia Malaysiana 7: 1-8).
• 2006. Danny Balete collected a previously undescribed species of Rafflesia in 1991 in the Bicol Region of southern Luzon. The collection was not recognized as a new species until further field work confirmed that this taxon was different than R. manillana. Several new populations have also been seen in the Camarines Sur Province [Mt. Isarog and Mt. Asog (or Mt. Iriga)] in the vicinity of Buhi and Iriga City. This was named R. baletei by Barcelona, Cajano, and Hadsall (2006. Kew Bulletin 61: 231-237). The names R. irigaense or R. irigaenses are invalid and refers to the same taxon.
• 2007. In 1994 Pascal Lays rediscovered buds of R. schadenbergiana in South Cotabato. His paper reporting this result has only recently been published. Moreover, Dr. Julie Barcelona reports on the discovery of yet another population of this rare species in Bukidnon (Flora Malesiana Bulletin, submitted; see also Parasitic Plant Connection).^[5]
• 2007. Mt. Banahaw in Luzon, a popular destination for mountaineering and religious groups seemed, until recently, an unlikely spot to find a new species of Rafflesia. But such was the case, as Barcelona et al. (2007, Blumea, 52:345-350) have described yet another endemic Rafflesia from the Philippines, R. banahaw.

For other uses, see Antique (disambiguation). ... Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. ...

See also

• Amorphophallus titanum, similar smelling plant, sometimes known as "corpse flower".
• Parasitic plant
• Carrion plant

Binomial name Amorphophallus titanum (Becc. ... About 4,100 species in approximately 19 families of flowering plants are either partly or completely parasitic on other plants [1]. Parasitic plants have a modified root, the haustorium, that penetrates the host plant and connects to the xylem or phloem or both. ... Amorphophallus titanum in Wilhelma Botanical and Zoological Gardens Stuttgart Carrion flowers or Stinking flowers are flowers that emit an odor that smells like rotting flesh. ...

References

1. ^ (January 20, 2004) "Mitochondrial DNA sequences reveal the photosynthetic relatives of Rafflesia, the world's largest flower". PNAS 101 (3): 787-792. 
2. ^ (October 20, 2004) "Phylogenetic inference in Rafflesiales: the influence of rate heterogeneity and horizontal gene transfer". BMC Evolutionary Biology 4: 40. 
3. ^ (January 11, 2007) "Floral gigantism in Rafflesiaceae". Science doi: 10.1126/science.1135260. 
4. ^ Haribon Foundation, Raffesia mira: yet another reason to be proud of the Philippines!
5. ^ Rediscovery of Rafflesia schadenbergiana. Rafflesia in bloom blog.

• Jamili Nais. Rafflesia of the world. ISBN 9838120421. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Rafflesia

• Parasitic Plant Connection: Rafflesia Gallery
• Video: 'David Attenborough finds the Rafflesia'

• ARKive: images and movies of the rafflesia (Rafflesia spp)