Rafflesia

Suitable for: Early Primary – Primary
Rafflesia icon

Rafflesia

Wildflower
Rafflesia
Rafflesia

A giant flower the size of a car tyre that reeks of rotting meat — and lives hidden as a parasite inside a jungle vine.

💡 Fun Facts

  • It makes the biggest single flower in the world — as wide as a car tyre!
  • It smells like rotting meat to trick flies into pollinating it.
  • It is a hidden parasite, living inside a jungle vine and only appearing when it flowers.
Name Story

Rafflesia arnoldii

means “Named after two people — Sir Stamford Raffles and Dr Joseph Arnold”

What does its name mean?
  • Rafflesia — after Sir Thomas Stamford Rafflesa person's name
  • arnoldii — after Dr Joseph Arnolda person's name

Both halves of this name honour people, not the plant. On an expedition to Sumatra in 1818, Dr Joseph Arnold found this enormous flower, and it was named for the expedition's leader, Stamford Raffles — so there's no hidden meaning about the plant to puzzle out, just a story of two explorers and the biggest single flower on Earth.

🎴 Field Research Data Cards

Picture
Units

Rafflesia

S
Rafflesia
PollinationCarrion flies — it mimics rotting meat in both smell and colour
Seed DispersalTiny seeds thought to be spread by ground mammals and ants; poorly understood
DefencesNone notable — it has no leaves or stem; the stench is for attraction, not defence
Special AbilityA leafless, rootless, stemless parasite that lives entirely inside a jungle vine, emerging only to flower
Flowering SeasonIrregular — a bud takes months to form and the open flower lasts only a few days
Seeds / YearMany thousands of tiny seeds per fruit; very few ever survive
Human UsesAn ecotourism icon; used in traditional South-East Asian medicine
Record TraitWorld's largest single flower — up to about 100 cm across (record about 111 cm) and 10 to 11 kg