#stapelia

A common greenbottle fly (Lucilia sericata) inside a cultivated carrion flower (Stapelia gigantea) in Georgia, USA

Stapelia gigantea

Stapelia gigantea is not a rare plant - it is easy to grow and occurs in numerous countries in the southeastern part of Africa. However, the example seen here is extraordinary because the flower is 7-pointed instead of the usual 5-pointed ( 5-pointed is the rule in the entire Apocynaceae, or Dogbane Family, including all of the plants that were formerly in the Milkweed Family, or Asclepiadaceae). This same plant has flowered many times before, and always with 5-pointed flowers, so perhaps this anomaly will never be repeated, but at least I captured it with my camera! Stapelias (and other closely related plants) are sometimes called "carrion flowers" because they have a truly awful smell in order to lure flies that wind up pollinating them.

Looks like my stapelia is going to bloom again.

And maybe, it's the reason of today's troubles (or maybe there's something else). Today I found an army of flies on the window! My room is relatively clean - yes t's a mess, but a clean mess, without any food remains, dirty mugs etc., I'm generally cautious about this. It all made me really angry, I had to wash the window, and will do some cleaning.

Did a restock at the Chocolati Greenwood storefront! Added some Stapelias, for fans of upsettingly fleshy-looking flowers! The stems feel velvety too! Very stimmy.