Editing Rafflesia (section)

== Description ==
[[File:Preserved_Rafflesia_displayed_in_Philippine_National_Museum.jpg|thumb|Replica of ''Rafflesia'' flower displayed in [[National Museum of Natural History (Manila)|National Museum of Natural History]] in Manila.]]
The plant has no stems, leaves or roots. It is a [[holoparasite]] of vines in the genus ''[[Tetrastigma]]'' (a plant in the [[Vitaceae]], the grape vine family), spreading its absorptive organ, the [[haustorium]], inside the tissue of the vine.<ref name=Harvard>{{cite magazine | last = Shaw | first = Jonathan | title = Colossal Blossom: Pursuing the peculiar genetics of a parasitic plant | url = https://harvardmagazine.com/2017/03/colossal-blossom | date = March–April 2017 | magazine = [[Harvard Magazine]] | access-date = 27 June 2017}}</ref> The only part of the plant that can be seen outside the host vine is the five-petalled [[flower]]. In some species, such as ''[[Rafflesia arnoldii]]'', the flower may be over {{convert|100|cm|in|-1}} in diameter, and weigh up to {{convert|10|kg|lb}}. A ''Rafflesia'' that flowered in [[West Sumatra]] in 2019 was measured to be almost {{convert|4|ft|cm}} in diameter, the largest flower ever recorded – {{convert|4|in|cm}} wider than the flower reported as the largest in 2017.<ref name=CNN>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/03/world/worlds-largest-flower-indonesia-scn-trnd/index.html|title=Scientists just found one of the world's largest flowers blooming in an Indonesian jungle|author=Scottie Andrew|publisher=[[CNN]]|access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref> Even one of the smallest species, ''[[Rafflesia baletei|R. baletei]]'', has {{convert|12|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} diameter flowers.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} A team of  morphologists and geneticists headed by Prof. Charles Davis of [[Harvard]] has discovered an important difference  between ''Rafflesia'' spp. and the very similar ''[[Sapria]]'' spp.   In both genera the petals are now described as sepals (or more correctly as "petaloid tepals") instead of vaguely defined "perigon lobes".  In ''Sapria'', the "diaphragm"  is a true [[Corona (perianth)|corona]] while in ''Rafflesia'' the diaphragm is made up of [[Adnation|adnate]] petals to form a dome, the true corona being greatly reduced.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/11/stages-of-bloom/ | website= [[Harvard University#Harvard University Gazette|Harvard Gazette]] News | last= Reuell | first= Peter | title= Stages of Bloom | date= November 4, 2014 | access-date= November 9, 2022}}</ref>

The flowers look and smell like rotting flesh. The foul odour attracts insects such as [[Calliphoridae|carrion flies]], which transport pollen from male to female flowers. Most species are [[dioecious]], having separate male and female flowers, but a few (''R. baletei'' and ''[[Rafflesia verrucosa|R. verrucosa]]'') have hermaphroditic flowers.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.11646/phytotaxa.253.3.4|title=''Rafflesia parvimaculata'' (Rafflesiaceae), a new species of ''Rafflesia'' from Peninsular Malaysia|year=2016|last1=Sofiyanti|first1=Nery|last2=Mat-Salleh|first2=Kamarudin|last3=Mahmud|first3=Khairil|last4=Mazlan|first4=NOR Zuhailah|last5=Hasein|first5=Mohd. ROS. Albukharey|last6=Burslem|first6=David F.R.P.|journal=Phytotaxa|volume=253|issue=3|page=207}}</ref> Little is known about seed dispersal. [[Scandentia|Tree shrews]] and other forest mammals eat the fruits.<ref name=OriginalKew>{{cite web |url=https://www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Rafflesia-arnoldii.htm |title=''Rafflesia arnoldii'' (corpse flower) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2011 |website=Plants & Fungi (blog) |publisher=[[Kew Botanical Gardens]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220014520/https://www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Rafflesia-arnoldii.htm |access-date=29 October 2020 |archive-date=2014-02-20 |quote=note: unverified errata info possibly from Mabberley (1985)}}</ref> The extremely tiny seeds have extremely tiny [[elaiosome]]s, and are thus most likely dispersed by ants. The seeds are packed into berries, each of which contains hundreds of thousands of seeds.<ref name=Harvard/>

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 unrelated to each other. ''[[Rafflesia arnoldii]]'' has the largest ''single'' flower of any flowering plant, at least in terms of weight. ''[[Amorphophallus titanum]]'' has the largest ''unbranched'' inflorescence, while the talipot palm (''[[Corypha umbraculifera]]'') forms the largest ''branched'' inflorescence, containing thousands of flowers; the talipot is [[monocarpic]], meaning the individual plants die after flowering.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

''Rafflesia'' are also remarkable for showing a large [[Horizontal gene transfer|horizontal transfer of genes]] from their host plants. This is well known among bacteria, but not higher organisms. It occurs in the [[mitochondria]] (originally derived from bacteria) found within the cells of ''Rafflesia''; these appear to have exchanged genes with the mitochondria of the host tissue.<ref name=Harvard/><ref name=Molina2014>{{cite journal |first1=Jeanmaire |last1=Molina |first2=Khaled M. |last2=Hazzouri |first3=Daniel |last3=Nickrent |first4=Matthew |last4=Geisler |first5=Rachel S. |last5=Meyer |first6=Melissa M. |last6=Pentony |first7=Jonathan M. |last7=Flowers |first8=Pieter |last8=Pelser |first9=Julie |last9=Barcelona |first10=Samuel Alan |last10=Inovejas |first11=Iris |last11=Uy |first12=Wei |last12=Yuan |first13=Olivia |last13=Wilkins |first14=Claire-Iphanise |last14=Michel1 |first15=Selina |last15=LockLear |first16=Gisela P. |last16=Concepcion |first17=Michael D. |last17=Purugganan |display-authors=5 |url= |title=Possible Loss of the Chloroplast Genome in the Parasitic Flowering Plant ''Rafflesia lagascae'' (Rafflesiaceae) |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |year=2014 |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=793–803 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msu051 |pmid=24458431 |pmc=3969568}}</ref>