Rafflesia from Indonesia

One of the rarest and most astonishing flowers in the world, including the very largest, is found only in Borneo and Sumatra! The Rafflesia flower starts as a small bud and can take over a year to flower. Rafflesia plants are parasitic, lacking both leaves and roots. The flower is not designed for beauty. In fact, the five fleshy, petal like lobes, marbled red and white, resemble dead meat and through chemical reaction the flower generates a strong odor of rotting flesh.