How does a Rafflesia flower attract insects?

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 in the world. Rafflesia is the national flower of Indonesia.

The flowers look and smell like rotting flesh. The foul odour attracts insects such as carrion flies, which transport pollen from male to female flowers.

Little is known about seed dispersal. Tree shrews and other forest mammals eat the fruits. The extremely tiny seeds have extremely tiny elaiosomes, and are thus most likely dispersed by ants. The seeds are packed into berries, which contains hundreds of thousands of seeds.

Rafflesia can be found along the area of Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand in Malay peninsula.