Rafflesia schadenbergiana

Rafflesia schadenbergiana is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. Known as "bó-o" to the Bagobo tribe and "kolon busaw" to the Higaonon tribe of Bukidnon, it has the largest flower among the Rafflesia species found in the Philippines with a diameter ranging from 52 to 80 centimeters.[1][2] It has also the second largest flower in the genus after R. arnoldii.

Rafflesia schadenbergiana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Rafflesiaceae
Genus:	Rafflesia
Species:	R. schadenbergiana
Binomial name
Rafflesia schadenbergiana (Goepp.) Ferreras
Synonyms
Rafflesia apoana Goepp.

Rafflesia schadenbergiana, photographed mid-July in situ

This species was first collected in the vicinity of Mount Apo, Mindanao during an expedition led by Schadenberg and Koch in 1882.[2] It was not seen for more than a century and was assumed to be extinct[3] until Pascal Lays found a specimen of this species in South Cotabato in 1994 while studying the Tasaday.[4] A population of this rare Rafflesia species was recently discovered in Baungon, Bukidnon, just outside the buffer zone of the Mount Kitanglad Natural Park in 2007.[1][5][note 1]

R. schadenbergiana is endemic to the island of Mindanao, Philippines.