The latest study conducted by a group of scientists including from the Botanic Garden University of Oxford Botanic Garden found that all 42 species of Pakma (Rafflesia) flowers are threatened with extinction. A total of 25 or 60% of them are now at risk of severe extinction, 15 are in danger of extinction and the other two are vulnerable to extinction.
The study report was published in the journal Plants, People, Planet. However, only one species, Raflesia magnifica, is included in the red list of the Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Bunga Paksa is only found in Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand and it has a reputation as a flower that smells like a rotting human body.
Scientists now recommend that all 42 species of Pakma flowers be included in the IUCN red list. The authorities in the countries where these flowers grow are also advised to preserve their habitat which is increasingly endangered due to deforestation. Efforts to breed Paksa flowers outside their habitat also need to be made before it is too late. Various attempts to do so in botanical gardens and greenhouses have so far failed.
As one of the flowers synonymous with Malaysia, letting it die out is unforgivable. We are already faced with the extinction of the Malayan Tiger and Orang Utan at this time. If everything disappears from the face of the earth, all national symbols will remain only memories.