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Giant stinker finds place in plant family tree

Pinning down the rotting-flesh plant could reveal the roots of gigantism.

With blooms that stink of rotting flesh and span up to a metre across, a flowering Rafflesia arnoldii is hard to miss in the tropical forests where it grows. But it has taken taxonomists nearly 200 years — when the odd plant was first described — to find its place in the family tree.

Read the story here.

Posted by Nicola Jones on January 11, 2007
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I'm from the Philippines. We in the Philippines know that this plant DOES have leaves. The mature plant actually grows after the flower has wilted (after the stink phase, the flower wilts and the plant grows). The plant is known here as pongapong.

Posted by: Lowell Castillo | January 14, 2007 06:36 AM

Yes, I live in the Philippines as well and I agree with the comment above.

Posted by: Philippine News | June 25, 2007 03:46 AM

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