This species was first collected in the vicinity of Mount Apo, Mindanao during an expedition led by Schadenberg and Koch in 1882. It was not seen for more than a century and was assumed to be extinct until Pascal Lays found a specimen of this species in South Cotabato in 1994 while studying the Tasaday. A population of this rare Rafflesia species was recently discovered in Baungon, Bukidnon, just outside the buffer zone of the Mount Kitanglad Natural Park in 2007. For more information about the remarkable species, see the review in the following citation.