Plant 13 Stapelia gigantea

Carrion flower

Stapelia gigantea

 
Description :

Growth Form: Cactus-like succulent shrub with shallow root system, up to 0.3m tall and 1m wide under ideal conditions.

Foliage: Reduced to very small (0.5mm), dry papery remnants at tips of stem tubercles, no longer photosynthetic.

Stems: Finger-like, fleshy, 4-sided, spineless but ridged with ‘teeth’ (tubercles), texture somewhat velvety. Bruised surfaces exude milky white sap. Stems serve as water storage and photosynthetic tissue for plant, green when plant is supplied with sufficient water, turn reddish or brown during drought-stress. Stems start branching near base of plant to form clumps, rooting whenever they touch the ground.

Flowers: This species produces the largest flowers of all existing succulents in the world. Flower buds big and inflated. Individual open flowers 20-40cm across, star-shaped, very showy, cream-coloured with crimson to brownish transverse lines and deep red central disk. Texture leathery, edged with profuse hairs along margins. Scented like rotten animal carcass, attract pollinator carrion-flies and bluebottles, which are sometimes fooled into laying eggs amongst the hairs of the flower.

Fruits: Explosive seedpods (follicles), produced in pairs and united at base, resembling goat’s horns, containing small flat, tufted seeds that are dispersed by wind.

Habitat :
Dry forests and open bushland or savannah areas, establishing under light shade of trees or on flat ground with broken grass cover.

Cultivation :
Takes full sun to light shade. Prefers well-drained, loose loamy to sandy-rocky soils. Water plant only when soil is thoroughly dry. Stems tend to rot in waterlogged and moist conditions, can be saved if rotten parts are cut off, and healthy sections allowed to callus for 2-3 weeks before planting. Propagate by seeds or stem cuttings (let callus form before planting in well-drained media).

Ethnobotanical Uses :
None