Rafflesia arnoldii Rafflesia arnoldii Rafflesia arnoldii, commonly called the corpse lily, is a species of flowering plant in the parasitic genus "Rafflesia". It is noted for producing the largest individual flower on Earth. It has a very strong and unpleasant odour of decaying flesh, earning it the nickname "corpse flower". It is endemic to the rainforests of Sumatra and possibly Borneo. Although there are some plants with larger flowering organs like the titan arum ("Amorphophallus titanum") and talipot palm ("Corypha umbraculifera"), those are technically clusters of many flowers. "Rafflesia arnoldii" (), also called Kerubut (Devil's Betelnut Box), is one of the three
Rafflesia arnoldii national flowers in Indonesia, the other two being the white jasmine and moon orchid. It was officially recognized as a national "rare flower" () in Presidential Decree No. 4 in 1993. The first European botanist to find a specimen of a "Rafflesia" was the French explorer Louis Auguste Deschamps (1765–1842). He was a member of a French scientific expedition to Asia and the Pacific. During the expedition, he spent three years on Java, where, in 1797, he collected a specimen of what is now known as "R. patma". During the return voyage in 1798, his ship was taken by the