page_title: Carrion flower
section_title: Rafflesia
hierarchical_section_title: Carrion flower / Plants known as "carrion flower" / Rafflesia
caption_attribution_description: Orbea variegata Place = Garden Grove home English: Flower and house fly. Native to Southern Africa. Stapelia genus are nicknamed "carrion flowers."
context_page_description: Carrion flowers, also known as corpse flowers or stinking flowers, are flowers that emit an odor that smells like rotting flesh. Carrion flowers attract mostly scavenging flies and beetles as pollinators. Some species may trap the insects temporarily to ensure the gathering and transfer of pollen.
context_section_description: Flowers of plants in the genus Rafflesia (family Rafflesiaceae) emit an odor similar to that of decaying meat. This odor attracts the flies that pollinate the plant. The world's largest single bloom is R. arnoldii. This rare flower is found in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. It can grow to be 90 centimetres (3 ft) across and weigh up to 7 kilograms (15 lb). R. arnoldii is a parasitic plant on Tetrastigma vine, which grows only in primary rainforests. It has no visible leaves, roots, or stem. It does not photosynthesize, but rather uses the host plant to obtain water and nutrients.
caption: House fly landing on a flower of Stapelia lepida.
exif: {}