I trust on a board like this where people are slightly wild, no one will object to me sharing more of the "carrion flowers", those which smell literally like crap to attract flies as polinators. The first is Tromotriche revoluta and the purple frilly things around the edges are, perhaps, metalic colored and easily moved by the slightest breeze to look like flies like other flies clustered around a dead body, as a signal "hey, there's grub!":



The next two are just pretty. Stapelia aperta and Piaranthus magificus

VERY nice!

nothing wakes you up in the morning like crap flowers, eh?

Orbea progmata



Huernia praestans



Huernia bayei



Echidnopsis sharpei



Duvalia angustiloba



And a non-Stapeliad bonus, Argyroderma ringens

You seem to grow a lot of bizarre "things", Tim!

That proves there are a lot more exciting greens than only CP´s. Very beautiful flowers. Keep those photos coming! BTW are you also growing Aristolochias?


Kind regards,

Andreas

Tim - You have quite a collection of smelly little friends.

No Aristolochias yet! Aidan, it's funny, although the flowers all have a different type of vileness, the combination of smells when several are in bloom is more like steer manure than the more grotesque individual smells.

Great collection. You are blessed with the ideal climate as well...

Very true, as long as they are in the greenhouse during the winter. If not, basically every one of them dies from the wet and cold. The sunlight helps with blooming, and the hot weather during the growing season can really make the plants grow like mad.

The Stapeliads are a remarkable group and the astonishingly flesh-like appearance of some of the flowers is a testament to the power of the evolutionary process.

what a fantastic collection Tim! thanks for sharing
giu

Thanks Tim !
I really enjoyed this post (even showed it to the wife... )


François.

For shear bizarre beauty, these flowers outstrip most others in my opinion! My S. obducta looks like it's about to flower too, and I've never actually smelled a carrion plant flower before, so I'm quite looking forward to it!

They run from no scent to honey smelling to barnyard smells to cesspit smell. It's cool waiting for a flower to open that you haven't "sampled" yet.

Y'know, for some odd reason I think I'll feel quite disappointed (nay robbed) if it smells like honey!

Andy - A preview:

http://cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?...d5d424730d49f05

...and I think we know who TimV is!

Stunning, isn't it!! I can't wait.

Thanks Aidan!

Stapelia rbiginosa



Piaranthus punctatus

Stunning Tim!!!

I'd really love to have a large collection of carrion plants like yours, but at the moment it would have to be at the expence of my CPs. I don't have room to have it both ways!! :)

Maybe one day...

One of the things that shocked me was how small the plants were when they bloomed, and with the IAS right in your country it's not like seeds will be hard to come by.

Huernia thuretti poking it's head above the pot:

Sorry! IAS?

<EDIT> I think I've found it. Is it the International Asclepiad Society?

http://www.asclepiad-international.org/

Thanks Tim!!

wow, some amazing photos on that link Tim!
this is a good one:
http://anti-matter-3d.com/Stapeliads/hi/Ho...pilifera_05.jpg

Agreed!! That's a beauty!

Huerniopsis astrosanguinea, with a strange smell I just can't describe



and Tromotriche englesiana, a back view

Duvalia reclinata, a cutie with frillie things, and Stapelia divaricata, a big ugly

I've just bought a Stapelia variegata and a Stapelia lepida and after seeing all these photos I can't wait to see some flowers on either or both of them.

Stapeliads are definitely some of the strangest plants i've ever seen.
Thanks for sharing Tim. I really like them.


François.

Beautiful!!

I'm still waiting for my obducta to flower!