Rafflesia schadenbergiana

MANILA, Philippines - Scientific Name: Rafflesia schadenbergiana Goppert

Family: Rafflesiaceae

Local Name: Bo-o (Bagobo); kolon busaw (Higaonon)

Distribution: Mindanao: Bukidnon, Davao, Cotabato. In secondary forests, edge of clearings and in primary rainforests. Endemic.

Description: Flower buds prior to expansion 16-20 cm in diameter, cupule 10 to 14 cm in diameter, bracts to 18 cm long. Open flower about 80 cm in diameter. Diaphragm about 6 to 8 cm wide, 13 to 14 cm in diameter. Perigone lobes with yellowish whitish warts, turning brown, irregularly shaped. Disk 12 to 13 cm in diameter, processes 30 to 50, elongate, cylindric, broad at base. Male flowers with 26-38 anthers. ( Modified from: Meijer, Flora Malesiana 13:33 (1997).

Conservation status: Critically Endangered.

Conservation assessment: This is the largest Rafflesia flower in the Philippines, and is second largest flower for the genus, after R. arnoldii in Sumatra. It was thought to be extinct in its original habitat in the forests of Mt. Apo, Davao as the plant has not been recollected since it was discovered by Schandenberg and Koch in 1882. In 1994 the plant was rediscovered in the primary forest of Mt. Matutum, South Cotabato by a visiting Belgian scientist. In 2007 another population was reported in a secondary forest in Baungon, Bukidnon. The few buds produced by this plant are parasitic to a woody vine of the genus Tetrastigma (family Vitaceae) and many of these abort and usually only one flower opens. The plant emits a faint foul odor and rots after 4 to 5 days. A conservation action plan for the species was recently drawn by concerned local and government officials and members of the community in Mindanao.

The species is threatened by habitat destruction and uncontrolled human activity.

For further information contact: Domingo A. Madulid, Botany Division, Philippine National Museum, P. Burgos St., Manila. Tel: 5271218; Email: [email protected]