You spot it on RM10 notes – a crimson marvel the size of a truck tyre. This is the Rafflesia, the world’s largest flower, a botanical oddity as infamous as it is rare. Nicknamed the stinking ...

Some parasites, such as Rafflesia and Thurber’s stemsucker, grow within the plant and only emerge to flower, while others attach their haustoria externally. All parasitic plants have evolved from ...