Tropicals & Tender Perennials: A hoya relative, 0 by dmichael619

dmichael619 wrote:
This is a a hoya relative also in the asclepiadaceae family called stapelia gigantea.This flower opened for me today. It's one of only about 3 stapelias that I kept when I decided to get rid of the collection last year. Stapelias for some reason seem to attract root mealies like ants to sugar so I finally gave up on them.

This one blooms the largest flower in the stapeliad family and i've had flowers up to 16" from tip to tip. I've had this plant now for several years and it blooms reliably every year for me. The only drawback to these flowers is that they require flies for pollination so I shouldn't have to tell anyone what they smell like!!!!! When grown outside they attract blowflies and it's not uncommon to find an open bloom full of live baby maggots. Sorry for that graphic description but how else can I tell you about this flower if I don't go into the specifics!!!!!

Stapelias have some of the prettiest,most unique and interesting flowers that you'll ever see on a plant but the smell leaves a lot to be desired on them!!!! Of the close to 75 varieties that I once grew,stapelia flavopurpurea was the only one that didn't stink. It had a bit of a honey scent to it.

Then again there was stapelia clavicorona with a flower the size of a U.S. quarter that could stink up an entire 12 X 20 X 30 gh with just 1 single open bloom!!!


This is stapelia gigantea

dmichael