Rafflesia mixta Barcelona, Manting, Arbolonio, Caballero & Pelser

This species was described in the following publication:

Barcelona, J.F., Manting, M.M.E., Arbolonio, R.B., Caballero, R.B., & Pelser, P.B. 2014. Rafflesia mixta (Rafflesiaceae), a new species from Surigao del Norte, Mindanao, Philippines. Phytotaxa 174:272-278.

Rafflesia mixta is a narrow endemic, known only from the Caraga Region of northeastern Mindanao, Philippines. The morphology of the flowers of this species most closely resembles that of R. mira, but differs in details of the perigone warts and processes, disk color, and relative size of the diaphragm opening. The etymology of the specific name is meant to convey a combination of features characteristics of three other Philippine Rafflesia: the shape and size of the conical processes (R. schadenbergiana), the floral size and sparsely distributed perigone warts (R. speciosa), and the overall resemblance, floral size, faint scent, and diaphragm and ramenta morphology (R. mira). This discovery brings the total number of Philippine Rafflesia species to twelve, of which four are found on the island of Mindanao.



flower of Rafflesia mixta

Open flower of Rafflesia mixta. This flower is the isotype (Arbolonio & Caballero 5), collected four days after this photograph was taken. Photo by Julie Barcelona.
SIUC / College of Science / Parasitic Plant Connection / Rafflesiaceae
URL: http://www.parasiticplants.siu.edu/Rafflesiaceae/Raff.mixta.page.html
Last updated: 27-July-16 / dln