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Rafflesia lawangensis

Rafflesia lawangensis is a giant parasitic flower that grows only in the forests around Bukit Lawang in North Sumatra, Indonesia. It has no leaves, stems or roots of its own and lives entirely inside a vine host, Tetrastigma coriaceum, so it cannot be grown as a garden plant.

Family
Rafflesiaceae (Rafflesi family)
Grows as
Perennial
Temperature
Wet tropical forest conditions; not cultivated
Native range
NW. Sumatera
Climate
wet tropical

About

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.

Where it grows

The species is known only in a single locality, Bukit Lawang, in North Sumatra's Mount Leuser National Park. The range of the plant overlaps with two other related species, R. micropylora and R. rochusenii, but can be easily distinguished from the two, in addition to other species found in Sumatra. It is a parasite of the plant Tetrastigma coriaceum.

Other Rafflesia plants

Stinking corpse lily · Rafflesia aurantia · Rafflesia azlanii · Rafflesia baletei · Rafflesia bengkuluensis · Rafflesia borneensis · Rafflesia cantleyi · Rafflesia ciliata · Rafflesia consueloae · Rafflesia gadutensis · Rafflesia hasseltii · Rafflesia keithii

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Rafflesia lawangensis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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