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Rafflesia verrucosa is a rare holoparasitic plant from the Philippines that has no roots, stems or leaves of its own and lives entirely inside Tetrastigma vines, producing a single large, foul-smelling flower. It is not a plant you can grow at home; it is known only from montane forest on Mt. Kampalili in Mindanao.
Rafflesia verrucosa was first identified and characterized during a small mammal survey of Mt. Kampalili in eastern Mindanao in 2010. R. verrucosa is the tenth species of Rafflesia found in the Philippines. Rafflesia species have rare and unusual flowers known for their large size and pungent smell. Some plant enthusiasts like Frits W. Went have gone to extreme measures to see these plants in bloom. Went detailed his search for Rafflesia saying, "I had heard, when I was in Java many years ago, that Rafflesia were to be found on an offshore island named Nusah Kembangan. This was in 1929, when it was a penal colony for major criminals. My driver on this occasion was a convicted murderer, and my guide was serving time for cannibalism." The small size and interesting morphology of Rafflesia verrucosa make it one of the most unusual Rafflesia species.
Rafflesia verrucosa has been found only growing on the southeastern slope of Mt. Kampalili in the Davao Oriental Province of Mindanao. The plant can be found between 1350 and 1550 m. in elevation even though the Tetrastigma vines that the plant grow on can be found at a greater range of elevations.
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 verrucosa 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.
