Stapelia

Stapelia subsp. var.	Carrion flower, Starfish flower
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The genus Stapelia consists of around 40 species of low growing, spineless, stem succulent plants, predominantly from South Africa. The flowers of certain species, most notably Stapelia gigantea, can reach 41 cm (16 inches) in diameter when fully open. Most Stapelia flowers are visibly hairy and generate the odour of rotten flesh, a notable exception is the sweetly scented Stapelia flavopurpurea. Such odours serve to attract various specialist pollinators including, in the case of carrion scented blooms, blow flies of the dipteran family Calliphoridae. They frequently lay eggs around the coronae of Stapelia flowers, convinced by the plants' deception.

The hairy, oddly textured and coloured appearance of many Stapelia flowers has been claimed to resemble that of rotting meat, this, coupled with their odour, has earned the most commonly grown members of the Stapelia genus the common name of "carrion flowers".

A handful of species are commonly cultivated as pot plants and are even used as rockery plants in countries where the climate permits.

Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Stapelia (J. B. Van Stapel, Dutch physician, died in the early part of the seventeenth century, who wrote on the plants of Theophrastus). Asclepiadaceae. Carrion Flower. Odd fleshy cactus-like plants usually grown with greenhouse succulents, both for the great oddity of their forms and for the singular and often large showy flowers. Stems low, leafless, coarsely 4-angled, the angle coarsely dentate, usually more or less covered with tubercles and excrescences: fls. often large, generally fetid and commonly arise from the angles and notches of the sts., apparently in no regularity and are usually grotesquely barred and mottled with dark or dull colors; calyx and corolla 5-parted, corolla-segms. spreading, usually narrow and fleshy, mostly purple or marbled, in some species pale; crown in 2 rows, the outer horizontally spreading, deeply 5-lobed, the lobes entire or shortly 2-3-cleft, the inner of 5 scales adnate to the base of the anthers: fr. of 2 follicles, containing comose seeds.—About 60 species according to N. E. Brown in Dyer, Flora Capensis, vol. 4 (1909); Schumann, in Engler & Prantl's Pflanzenfamilien, considers that the genus contains 70-80 species; Decaisne, in DeCandolle's Prodromus, 8 (1844), describes 89 species, and makes references to several more. S. Afr. chiefly, 3 or 4 in Trop. Afr. Some of the species have fls. several inches across, although the plants themselves are relatively small; in fact, the fls. of S. gigantea are a foot across. Most of the stapelias demand the treatment given to Cape euphorbias and to cacti,—a light, airy, rather dry position during the growing and blooming seasons and a soil made porous with rubble. They are mostly summer and fall bloomers. They should remain dormant in winter. Propagated easily by cuttings. They do best, however, when not grown so dry as cacti are grown. (See under Succulents, p. 2674.) The stapelias are known in cultivation mostly in botanic gardens and in the collections of amateurs. Only a few names occur in the American trade, and one of these (S. cylindrica) is an Echidnopsis. Several other species are likely to be found in fanciers' collections. S. albicans, Sprenger. A hybrid with partly whitish sts.: corolla 2 – 2 1/2 in. diam., dark purple-brown at the tips of the lobes, otherwise yellow with purple-brown transverse lines.—S. Asterias, Mass. Starfish Flower. Dwarf: sts. mostly curved: corolla 4-5 in. diam., with spreading star-like segms., violet-purple with transverse, yellowish bars. B.M. 536. L.B.C. 5:453.—S. atrosanguinea, N. E. Br., with intense blackish crimson fls. is in reality a Caralluma, C. atrosanguinea, N. E. Br.—S. cantabrigiensis, Berger (S. hybrida cantabridgensis). Hybrid: corolla 6 1/2 - 8 lines across, broadly campanulate, greenish, suffused with red outside, brown-red inside, rather densely covered with red-brown hairs.—S. Caroli-Schmidtii is offered in the German trade.—S. cylindrica, Hort.—Echidnopsis cereiformis.—S. divergens, N. E. Br. Hybrid: corolla about 2 in. diam., inner surface slightly rugulose, light yellow, irregularly marked with brownish crimson lines.—S. Engleriana, Schlecht. Fls. solitary; corolla dark brown, lobes triangular. S. Afr.—S. Fleckii, Berger & Schlecht., is offered in the German trade. S. E. Afr.—S. foetida, Hort., is an American trade name which might apply to any species in the genus.—S. Hanburyana, Berger & Ruest. Hybrid: corolla about 2 1/2 in. diam., inner surface somewhat rugose, lobes pale greenish yellow, evenly marked all over with small transverse, purple-brown spots or short lines, narrowly edged with the same color.—S. Leendertziae, N. E. Br. St. erect from a decumbent base, 3-5 in. high: corolla large, campanulate, tube 2 - 2 1/2 in. long, 1 3/4 - 2 1/4 in. across, dull fuscous-purple. Transvaal. B.M. 8561.—S. longipedicellata, N. E. Br. (S. kwebensis var. longipedicellata, Berger). Sts. clustered, erect, 4-6 in. high: corolla 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 in. across, tube short, purplish, lobes blackish. Trop. Afr.— S. luxurians, Dammann. Hybrid: corolla about 3 in. diam., not ciliate, entirely dark purple-brown.—S. magna, Berger. Hybrid: corolla dark brown, with yellowish markings, with violet-red curled hairs.—S. Plantii, Hort. Sts. stout and erect: corolla about 5 in. diam., hairy, brown barred with yellow, lobes margined with brown- purple. S. Afr. B.M. 5692. F.S. 19:2012.—S. portae-taurinae is offered in the German trade.—S. putida, Berger. Hybrid: sts. 1 1/2 - 2 in. high: corolla-lobes yellowish with large purple-brown spots and a red line along the margin, not ciliate.—S. rectiflora, Ruest. Hybrid: corolla about 2 in. diam. with a shallow cup-like disk and spreading sulfur-yellow lobes, with rounded and not very numerous purple-brown spots often confluent in longitudinal rows. —S. Schinzii, Berger & Schlecht., is offered in the German trade. S.E. Afr. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. 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Varieties

Selected species:

Stapelia acuminata Stapelia albicans Stapelia albipilosa Stapelia arenosa Stapelia asterias Stapelia aurea Stapelia ausana Stapelia barklyi Stapelia bayfieldii Stapelia baylissii Stapelia bella Stapelia cactiformis Stapelia cantabrigensis Stapelia caudata Stapelia cedrimontana Stapelia clavicorona Stapelia cupularis Stapelia desmetiana Stapelia dinteri Stapelia divaricata Stapelia divergens Stapelia engleriana Stapelia erectiflora Stapelia flavirostris Stapelia flavopurpurea Stapelia gariepensis Stapelia gettliffei Stapelia gigantea Stapelia glabricaulis Stapelia glabriflora Stapelia glanduliflora Stapelia grandiflora Stapelia hanburyana

Stapelia hirsuta Stapelia immelmaniac Stapelia knobelii Stapelia kougabergensis Stapelia kwebensis Stapelia leendertziae Stapelia lepida Stapelia macloughlinii Stapelia macowanii Stapelia maculosa Stapelia maculosoides Stapelia melanantha Stapelia mutabilis Stapelia obducta Stapelia olivacea Stapelia pachyrrhiza Stapelia paniculata Stapelia parvula Stapelia pearsonii Stapelia peglerae Stapelia pillansii Stapelia portae-taurinae Stapelia praetermissa var. luteola Stapelia praetermissa var. praetermissa Stapelia preastans Stapelia remota Stapelia rubiginosa Stapelia rufa Stapelia schinzii Stapelia scitula Stapelia tsomoensis Stapelia unicornis Stapelia variegata Stapelia vetula Stapelia villetiae Stapelia youngii

Gallery

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External links

• w:Stapelia. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
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