🌸 Dessert.plants.passion / Stapeliads / Flower seduces flies!
STAPELIADS
Unusual beauty
Taverasia angolensis
Plants of the Aschlepiadaceae family are native to Africa and are strongly adapted to the environment they inhabit.
Orbea variegata & Orbea wissmanii
As succulent plants they can survive long periods without water. They even found a way how to be fertilized. How about to hire some flies? Plants, wonderful creatures, they always find a way how to survive, being so creative in their modus. Members of the ‘Aschle’ family mimic the look of decaying animals and also many of them have not so nice smell. Yes, they even imitate odor of rotten meat!
Stapelia hybrid & Huernia thuretii
Few of them spread their smell few meters around, most of them smells only if you put your nose into the flower, and then few of them do not have that odor, at least I didn’t sense it.
Even when I look at this images I can remember their smell :D
Orbea hesperidum
And cats are always interested in them, smelling them in passing. :D
Cats & stapeliads
Yes, they are very good in their mimicry. As soon as the flower opens flies are moving around, and the second day of flowering, some species flowers are full of larva. The flies are so deceived by flowers that they even lay their eggs in it’s, as they consider, fleshy, rotten meat.
Stapelia gigantea
Twin seed horn usually appears a year later:
Seeds of Huernia sp.
Flowers are variable in size. They can be very small, only one cm in width, and there are also some very big flowers like this Stapelia gigantea in photo below:
Variation in size of flowers
Stapeliads flower easy in cultivation if given warmth and airflow. They are easy to propagate by cuttings or seeds, but is not easy to keep them alive for a long time. They are mostly attacked by black rot from which plant can be saved only if illness is seen on time. Infected parts should be cut of, substrate changed and is good to keep an eye on it for some time. The best thing to do is to have more than one plant of each species, even though that’s not a guarantee. Maybe to have some friends who love and grow same plants, so they can give you a cutting if yours die? Yes, combination of the latest two is a path of success in growing stapeliads. :D
Ok, you can always buy new ones, but that one from a friend is better, trust me ;)
Huernia_sp._pendula_kirkii.jpg
Huernia sp. & Huernia pendula & Huernia kirkii
Though they are not so easy to grow and some spread that offensive smell I find their flowers to be incredible beautiful, wonderful wonders of the nature!! And I wait for summer with an excitement, maybe some of them, that didn’t flower yet, will delight me this year. With so many plants to care for there is always some thrill and excitement and beauty to enjoy.
Few more photos for the end! :)
Development from bud to flower:
Huernia zebrina
Stapelia gigantea
References:
Novara L.J.: Flora del valle de Lerma,1991-2012.
Berger A., Dinter C.: Succulenta Dinteriana, 1914.
Brown N.E.: Flora capensis, 1907.
http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/SUCCULENTS/Family/Asclepiadaceae/
http://pza.sanbi.org/
Some prior cacti and other succulent stories:
Lithops in flower
Titanopsis in winter dormancy
My cactus world of joy
Thank you for your attention!
Feel free to follow me for more cacti & other succulent stories!
@andrijana
Very interesting, I enjoy reading your post and looking at the pictures. I love succulent plants. I love nature in general, so I am following you, hoping to learn some new things! 🌺
Thank you for your attention @starjewel !
I'm happy that we share love for succulent plants and nature. :)
I see you are an expert @andrijana, congrats. Can you tell me what plant is this one in the picture? I got it last year, it had just 3 leaves. It likes direct sun and lots of water. I’m wondering if I will get any flowers ever? It grew a lot, I love this plant!
Hi! :) Thank you for your question, I just love to talk about cacti&succulents.
It is Crassula ovata, also called 'money tree'. Yes, it likes a lot of sun and water but no frost. In winter I do not water mine, but if you have lots of sun you can water it in winter too. Search the internet for some examples of shaping it, if you like. You can grow it as a bonsai, but bigger one. You can grow it as caudiciform plant: if have smaller pot than it makes wider scape (-->did I choose the right word?).
IT IS flowering!, it has white colored inflorescence, not something spectacular but the plant itself is a beauty. And if you think that you are doing something wrong, you are not! This plant is not so easy to flower. It will, just be patient. :)
OMG, you are awesome! So, my plant is a money tree! Yay! Now I understand why it grew so wide. Because I put it in a wide pot. 😊 Thank you for the info, I will do some more research on shaping the plant... it sounds very interesting.
You're welcome! If have any other question, feel free to ask. See you around!
Thank you darling, I will. Nice to connect with you!
Ah kako su carobne, kao biljke sa neke druge planete @andrijana :)
Hvala ti @jungwatercolor !
To je moj svijet, moje utočište.. svi ti moji kaktusi. Sijem ih, nabavljam nove, mijenjam se, presađujem ih, tražim im zemlju po kamenitim djelovima šume, tražim im zanimljive posude po sajmovima... i zaboravim na sve, pa i na sebe.
Ma divno ti je cvece :) Licno sam sklona cuvarkucama ..ali ovo tvoje je magija boja i oblika @andrijana :)
Nice photography. @prokaysar
Thank you @prokaysar! :)
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