Rafflesia panchoana

Congratulations Jhan-Curt Fernández, your spotting won Second Place in our 2019 Best Wildlife Photo Competition - Plants category! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectnoah/photos/a.10163452469955603/10163452473560603/?type=3&theater Twitter: https://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/1252447109128863744

Congratulations ! This must be an amazing thing to behold..

Beautiful specimen.

For anyone interested here's a link to download the paper with the original species description: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236335925_Rafflesia_panchoana_Rafflesiaceae_a_New_Species_from_Luzon_Island_Philippines

Beautiful shot Jhan-Curt. Just reading a little from the reference you provided. Thanks so much for sharing and congratulations on the SOTD.

Congrats on your sotd.

Congratulations Jhan-Curt, your Rafflesia has been chosen to illustrate #EarthDay2019: "Today is the 49th edition of #EarthDay! We’ve chosen to mark the day with this magnificent Rafflesia panchoana as our Spotting of the Day. Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants found in Southeast Asia, with about 28 known species and new species still described recently. Rafflesia panchoana was described in 2007 from Mt. Makiling on the island of Luzon (Philippines), an area rich in endemic species. Recent estimates suggest that only 14% of all living species on Earth have so far been discovered. Worryingly, the current rate of species extinction signifies that many species may disappear before being catalogued and contributing to our understanding of the natural world, not to mention that biodiversity is essential in maintaining healthy ecosystems. In this context Earth Day 2019 comes with the most appropriate special theme: Protect our Species. Find out more about the Protect our Species campaign and other initiatives by the Earth Day Network: https://buff.ly/2HoPAUC " Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectnoah/photos/pb.10150120463815603.-2207520000.1555966953./10161736506085603/?type=3&theater Twitter: https://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/1120432698726727680

Amazing!

Wow fantastic spotting! This must be one of the newly described species. I've heard many species have been discovered all over The Philippines.

Amazing spotting, Jhan-Curt!