Rafflesia rochussenii
Content
Description
Flowers (15-) 17-20(-30) cm in diam., c. 12 cm high.
Fruits c. 8.5 cm wide and 7 cm high, ovary 6 cm wide and 3 cm high, disk decayed, cupula (5-)7-8 cm diam., 1.5-2 cm high.
Distribution
W Java, N Sumatra (Mt Leuser and further south in Tapanuli) present
Malesia: W Java, N Sumatra (Mt Leuser and further south in Tapanuli). In 1989 and 1990 two sites were rediscovered on Mt Salak, Java, and one around 1995 on Mt Gede, Java (collected by Arindansyah, oral comm. by H. Wiriadinata). The species probably still occurred in Berastagi, Sumatra, in 1980. The site was, however, logged and destroyed in 1981.
Notes
Cultivated in the Leiden Botanical Garden in 1851 from dug-up plants (see paragraph on ex situ cultivation, p. 20) and illustrated from damaged flowers by De Vriese in 1853 and 1854.
The most distinctive character is the disk of the column with the rim only slightly raised and the surface bald or only with a few processes, never more than eight. The ramenta are slender and in general have knob-like apices.
Citation
Solms-Laubach 1901: p. 10. – In: Engl., Pflanzenr. 5: f. 6, 7
De Vriese 1853: Mém. sur Rafflesia Rochussenii et Patma: 4
Teijsm. & Binn. 1851: pp. 651-655. – In: Nat. Tijds. Ned. Indië
Ernst & Schmid 1913: pp. 1-58. – In: Ann. Jard. Bot Buitenzorg
Steenis 1941: pp. 179-181. – In: Trop. Natuur
Solms-Laubach 1898: Ann. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg: 3-12: t. 1
Koord. 1918: Bot. Overz. Raffles. Ned.-Indië: 82
De Vriese 1854: Illustr. R. Rochussenii: t. 1-3