3 stories from this place.
The *Rafflesia arnoldii* flower of Sumatra can grow to a metre across — the largest individual bloom of any plant species on Earth. It was named in 1820 for Stamford Raffles by the surviving members of the expedition that found it. The expedition's botanist, Joseph Arnold, had died of malaria on the same trip three months earlier.
Read the story →In May 1818, an expedition led by [Stamford Raffles](/articles/stamford-raffles-singapore) and the surgeon-botanist Joseph Arnold found a 1-metre red flower in the Sumatran rainforest. It weighed about 7 kilograms, smelled of carrion, and had no leaves, stem, or roots. Arnold caught a fever and died on the trip back. The flower was named for both of them.
Read the story →Stamford Raffles spent a decade governing Java, founded Singapore, and was the most important English Asianist of his generation. He lost his Sumatran governorship, his fortune, four of his five children, and most of his collection in a single bad year.
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