Rafflesia arnoldii which then pollinate the rare plant. It is not to be confused with the titan arum, "Amorphophallus titanum", which is also commonly referred to as the "corpse flower" because of its repulsive odor. "Rafflesia arnoldii" is rare and fairly hard to locate. It is especially difficult to locate the flower in forests, as the buds take many months to develop and the flower lasts for just a few days. The flowers are unisexual and thus proximity of male and female flowers is vital for successful pollination. These factors make successful pollination a rare event. When "Rafflesia" is ready to reproduce,
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