Rafflesia Park where the flowers are numbered and monitored by the park rangers. "Rafflesia" are also remarkable for showing a large horizontal transfer of genes from their host plants. This is well known among bacteria, but not higher organisms. The name "corpse flower" applied to "Rafflesia" can be confusing because this common name also refers to the titan arum ("Amorphophallus titanum") of the family Araceae. Moreover, 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 only distantly related. "Rafflesia arnoldii" has
Rafflesia of the expedition. The plant has no stems, leaves or roots. It is a holoparasite of vines in the genus "Tetrastigma" (Vitaceae), spreading its absorptive organ, the haustorium, inside the tissue of the vine. 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 in diameter, and weigh up to . Even one of the smallest species, "R. baletei", has 12 cm diameter flowers. The flowers look and smell like rotting flesh, hence its local names which translate to "corpse