''Rafflesia speciosa'' is a

parasitic plant A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called the ...

species of the genus ''

Rafflesia ''Rafflesia'' () is a genus of parasitic flowering plants in the family Rafflesiaceae. The species have enormous flowers, the buds rising from the ground or directly from the lower stems of their host plants; one species has the largest flowers i ...

''. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the

Philippine The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

of Panay. ''R. speciosa'' is the third ''

'' species documented to exist in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, after '' R. manillana'' and '' R. schadenbergiana''. It belongs to the medium-sized ''Rafflesia'' (Meijer, 1997). The species was named by Julie Barcelona and Edwino Fernando. ''Rafflesia speciosa'' was discovered in the mountains of

Sibalom Natural Park Sibalom Natural Park is a List of protected areas of the Philippines, protected area in the Philippines on the island of Panay in the municipality of Sibalom, Antique, Sibalom, Antique (province), Antique. It was proclaimed a Protected area, natu ...

(particularly Mount Porras) in Antique, Panay by members of an outdoor club. It was adopted as the symbol of Sibalom Natural Park and the municipality of

Sibalom Sibalom, officially the Municipality of Sibalom, ( krj, Banwa kang Sibalom; hil, Banwa sang Sibalom; tl, Bayan ng Sibalom), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Antique, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population ...

. For more information, see the review of Philippine ''Rafflesia''.

References

External links

Parasitic Plant Connection: ''Rafflesia speciosa'' page
speciosa Endemic flora of the Philippines Flora of the Visayas Plants described in 2002 Taxa named by Julie F. Barcelona {{Malpighiales-stub