It was first discovered by Louis Auguste Deschamps in 1797, a French surgeon-naturalist who explored Java between 1791 and 1794. Deschamps was the naturalist abroad La Rechercher ship in an expedition searching for two research ship named Boussole and Astrolabe which is lost at southern waters. In 1793, they were seized by Dutch in east Java. Since Deschamps interested in natural history and has the ability, he was invited by Governor Van Overstraten to make a research of natural history all over Java. Deschamps made many notes, illustration and started his manuscript 'Materials towards a Floral of Java'. It was during 1797 that Deschamps discovered Rafflesia flower and made an illustration about it.
Since British and French were at war during that time, Deschamps' ships was taken by British Navy on his way going back to French in 1803. all of His specimens, notes, illustration and research of 11 years were confiscated and declared as a war booty. Then John Reeves bought Deschamps' works at a public sale at Indian House in London and Donated it to the British Museum in 1861. Twenty years later, between 1812 and 1819, Horsfield also collected an immature Rafflesia buds in Java.
In 1818, Sir Stamford Raffles, Lady Sophia Raffles and Dr Joseph Arnoldcollected Rafflesia in Bengkulu, Sumatra. Sir Stamford Raffles was a Governor of the East India Company's establishment in Sumatra and later, the founder of Singapore. Dr. Joseph Arnold were a naturalist and physicians. They discovered the plants on 19 or 20 may 1818 which is then introduced Rafflesia to the world. Before they returned and end their expedition, Dr Joseph Arnold died of Malaria and burried in Padang. Sir Stamford Raffles wrote about Sir Joseph Arnold on 13 August 1818 from Bengkulu (Bencoolen).
"... You will lament to hear that we had lost Dr Arnold: he fell sacrifice to his exertions on my first tour into the interior, and he died of fever about a fortnight ago... it is impossible I can do justice to his memory by any feeble encomiums I may pass on his character; he was in every thing what he should have been, devoted to science and the acquisition of knowledge, and aiming only at usefulness.."
Raffles also found part of a letter wrote by Dr Arnold to an unknown friend before his death.
"... here I rejoiced to tell you i happened to meet with what I consider as the greatest prodigy of the vegetable world. I had ventured some way from the party, when one of the Malay servants came running to me and said " come with me sir, come! a flower, very large, beautiful, wonderful!"... to tell you the truth, had I been alone, and had there been no witnesses, I should I think have been fearful of mentioning the dimension of this flower, so much does it exceed every flower I have ever seen or heard of...Now for the dimensions, which are the most astonishing part of the flower. It measured a full yard across; the petals, which were subrotund, being twelve inches from base to the apex, and it being about a foot from the insertion of the one petal to the opposite one..."
in the same letter,
"...I have seen nothing resembling this plant in any books; but yesterday, in looking over Dr Horsfield's immense collection of the plants of Java, I find something which perhaps may approach to it; at any rate the buds of the flower he has represented grow from the root precisely in the same manner..."
The illustration that referred by Dr Arnold may be Deschamps' illustration of the species he discovered.
The illustration of Rafflesia from their expedition was then sent to Sir Joseph Banks in London through Thomas Horsfield. Then passed to Robert Brown and Franz Bauer, their works together resulted in the memoir , 'An account of a new Genus of plants named Rafflesia'. It was read by Brown on 30 jun 1820 and published in 1821 in the
Transaction of the Linnean Society.
