Growing the Stapeliad family

Stapeliads are commonly known as carrion flowers and this particular specimen is Orbea Lutea. This family of plants can be grown outdoors or in a hothouse but never in your house, due to the stinkiness of the flowers, which smell like rotting meat. Most flowers utilise insects for reproduction by offering rewards in the form of pollen or nectar. Stapeliads and orchids are sneaky: they trick insects into pollinating them and give nothing in return. In the case of carrion flowers, the smell is so convincing that flies will walk all over the flower, pollinating it, and in some cases, flies even lay their eggs on the flowers.

These plants have no real leaves and are just succulent stems. They tend to grow in the shade of rocks or bushes and do better in partial shade than in full sun although they only flower when the weather is hot. They also need very well-drained soil and like to be watered fairly regularly and quickly rot if conditions aren't to their liking. They are quite easy to grow from seed and I have had some come up in my garden out of nowhere, because the seeds are wind dispersed. I have always found these smelly flowers with their starfish forms particularly fascinating and these are favourites in my garden. When they are blooming, I often find myself wondering what has died nearby, until I see that the flowers are out