Rafflesia arnoldii

Identification

R. arnoldii produces large, red flowers nearly a meter in width. It has no leaves or roots.

Life Cycle

Direct, single host

These parasitic plants are highly specified to certain grape species. They grow tendrils that are imbedded in these plants, only occasionally erupting to form male or female flowers (which generate heat and stink of rotting flesh to attract insects for pollination) for 5-6 days at a time before they quickly decompose. They are unisexual and do not kill their hosts. Seeds are eaten and distributed by small creatures.

http://homepages.wmich.edu/~tbarkman/rafflesia/Rafflesia.html

Host Information and Distribution

Since these plants are very specified and lack chlorophyll for photosynthesis, R. arnoldii reproduction and transmission is limited to circumstances where parasitic flowers can infect the grape species, Tetrastigma leucostaphylum, which grows in West Sumatra. For transmission, the parasitic plant must grow flowers from these grapes' root systems, get pollinated within the narrow 5-6 day flowering period, and create seeds. Seeds may then be eaten by animals like ground squirrels or tree shrews, who aid their distribution around the forest so they may infect another plant through a wounded part of its root system. They are thus a rare sight and one that is limited to the rainforests of Indonesia.

http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:316069-1