Rafflesia hasseltii

R. hasseltii can only be found on several locations in Kerinci Seblat National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia, and Peninsular Malaysia, including Taman Negara and Temengor Forest Reserve. The type locality of the species in what is now West Sumatra, where it was first described, had gone extinct as a result of local plantation expansion. This plant is entirely dependent on host species from the genus Tetrastigma.

Several animals such as wild boar, deer, squirrels, and ants have been recorded as contributing to the survival of buds and possibly assisting dispersal through their activities on the forest floor.

Traditional tribes such as the Orang Asli sell the flowers as a folk medicine. In laboratory rat experiments, extracts from the buds of this plant have shown potential in accelerating wound healing.

The species epithet hasseltii was given by Dutch botanist Willem Frederik Reinier Suringar in 1879. The origin of the epithet, or whom it attributes to, has not been documented. However, it was likely attributed to fellow Dutch botanist and ethnologist Arend Ludolf van Hasselt, who assisted in collecting the plant specimens from West Coast Sumatra. R. hasseltii is locally known as tiger-faced mushroom (Malay: cendawan muka rimau), due to its blooming flower's appearance resembles the stripes on a tiger. Although rafflesias have mycelia-like fibers that penetrate their host, they are dicotyledonous plants and not mushrooms. It is also known as white-red rafflesia (Indonesian: raflesia merah putih), copperish mushroom (Malay: cendawan biring), sun mushroom (Latin: fungus solaris), ambai-ambai, kerubut, and pakma.