Rafflesia

If the player's town has too many weeds and/or trash, enough to generate the "worst" rating, a rafflesia may appear. Players are unable to remove it by picking it or digging it up.

The environmental report in the civic center will read this: "This place is the pits! Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong! There's not a single thing I like in this town!" and Pelly will state "Hmm... You know, I think the problem is there are those gross flowers that keep showing up. You really have to work daily to prevent eyesores like that from sprouting." while Phyllis will comment "There must be a flower that smells terrible somewhere in town. Well, if that's the problem, maybe they should just stop planting them! (Come on, genius!)"

One small plus of the rafflesia is that flies are usually nearby and easy for catching. This mimics the real life behavior of it which emits the odor of rotting flesh to attract flies in order to pollinate.

In, the rafflesia can be seen in the insect section of the museum, regardless of the town's environmental rating. Once the player catches a fly and donates it to Blathers, it will be seen flying around the plant.

The player cannot remove a rafflesia by hitting it with a shovel or trying to pick it up. It usually appears where there are the least weeds, so it has room to grow and flies can appear. To remove a rafflesia, the player must pull all the weeds in one acre. Once the player has picked enough weeds, the rafflesia will start to wilt and die within a few days, and then it will disappear.

In, with no acre system to determine the town rating, the rafflesia is harder to remove. Building public works projects appears to be a more effective method of removing the plant.

Real-world information
The Rafflesia tuan-mudae is a rafflesia that can reach up to 1 meter in diameter. They can be found in Sarawak, Borneo. The flower is known for its pungent smell, which is frequently compared to the scent of rotting meat; the smell is used to attract flies, which act as the rafflesia's main pollinators.