Starfish Flowers!!!

james L

Established Member
Here is some photos of one of my favorite flowers. (Stapelia Gigantea) This is a succulent from South Africa. It puts off these huge flowers about twice a year. The very interesting aspect of this flower is that it stinks like rotting meat. This is so it cant attract flys to help pollinate each other. The flys have no idea its a flower and they lay eggs in it. Eggs then hatch and tiny maggots appear. The anoles go on a feeding frenzy. Its a very cool site. You can see the maggots and flies in Photo #1. The last photo is the main flower bed that I grow them in. Enjoy!
 

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Danny, this is the largest species in the genus.The plant gets up to 14'' and the flowers around 12''. They belong to the family Apocynaceae which are all mainly from Africa.
 
Danny, this is the largest species in the genus.The plant gets up to 14'' and the flowers around 12''. They belong to the family Apocynaceae which are all mainly from Africa.

Huh, wonder what I was thinking of then. thanks for the info!
 
Asclepiadaceae ----> Apocynaceae

...T
...they belong to the family Apocynaceae which are all mainly from Africa.

Very nice bed of starfish.

To correct, members of the family Apocynaceae, which now includes the Asclepiads, occur on all continents, except Antarctica. Stapeliads occur mainly in Africa, with several representatives in Arabia and ranging into India. The common milkweed that monarch butterflies feed on is in the same family and its relatives are found in much of the Americas.
 
So you have a garden of flowers that stink like rotting meat? Awesome! :D

Very neat!
 
Thanks Dgray, most of my info is old. I need to do some reseaching and Thanks for all the comments guys, glad you liked.
 
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