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 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. Comparison of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences of "Rafflesia" with other angiosperm mtDNA indicated this parasite evolved from photosynthetic plants of the order Malpighiales. Another study from that same year confirmed this result using both mtDNA and nuclear DNA sequences, and showed the three other groups traditionally classified in Rafflesiaceae were unrelated. A more