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A large growing species that needs some warmth in the winter if it is to survive. I kept it through one winter but then forgot to bring it in.
It flowered for the first time in the second year, and almost before it was fully open there was a queue of flies waiting to pollinate it.
I didn't find the smell too offensive, but I only went out to the greenhouse in the evening when it started to cool. Originally introduced as S. flavirostris, it is now seen as part of the variation within S. grandiflora. The use of the cultivar name 'Flavirostris' is a nomenclatural kindness for the confused. Llifle says: "Stapelia grandiflora is a tufted cactus-like plant with large and showy star-fish shaped flowers. Stapelia grandiflora is a very variable species with many hybrids both in the wild and in cultivation. This specie meets and intergrade with Stapelia hirsuta in the little Karoo and the two (quite similar) species can be separated by its thicker pedicel. It is a relatively large, perennial, stem succulent that can form large compact clusters up to 50 cm in diameter (or more). Flowers are intermittently produced throughout the late summer and autumn. Flies pollinate the flowers resulting in the typical twin seed horns (follicles), which are decorative in themselves and often don't appear until a year later." |
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| 7th August 2008 | ||
