great flower Phil, what sort of size is it?

Are they as easy to keep as cacti? If so I think I'll have some too, come spring :-)

Can't get my head around the anatomy of that flower, Phil. Any chance of a wider view?

The more I see of these plants, the more convinced I am that I have to have one!!

Ah! The 5 petals are still joined together distally. I assume it's going to open out like a Stapelia?

I dont think they open any more, they have a "cage" structure

Hi Stephen,

The entire flower is about 8cm long. The flower has a very odd structure. I'm not entirely certain but looking at it, the long and hairy structure at the top of the flower presumably are the petals. These are joined at the tip forming a sort of cage structure which can be entered from the sides.

At what looks like the base of the flower is attached the white spotted tube. This appears to be the flower proper. Once the flower drops I'll dissect it but I assume the male and female parts of the flower are found at the end of this tube. The poor pollinator must have to travel the length of the tube. Its possible of course that the pollinator may have a very long probiscus, though this is not the usual pollination method for Stapeliads.

Hand pollination of Stapeliads is an art I have not yet mastered involving a lens, an acupuncture needle, some superglue and quite likely a little voodoo magic too! Pollinating this baby is going to involve some dissection as well I'd guess.

As to keeping them. They are probably slightly more tricky than most Cacti in as much that most species will not tolerate freezing conditions. In my opinion they are slightly more fussy in their water requirments but only in as much as cacti will tolerate zero watering even in hot weather, whereas these succulents need regular watering during the summer. In the winter (i.e from now!) they need zero or virtually zero watering.

Then again, propagation is very simple. Just pull a piece off and wait for it to root!

Phil

Here's another shot. This one shows the flower complete with the tube structure. You can see a distinct bulb at the end. I'm assuming this is the business end of the flower, so to speak!



Phil

That's clearer now! The hairs on the petals point in a direction that suggested to me that the petal tips are their bases if that makes sense. That's why the first pic confused me - just seemed counter-intuitive. Wonder what the function of such well-developed centrally-pointed hairs is?
You say the genus climbs - how big are the plants at maturity? Easy to contain?
Stunning plant btw.

Not sure what the function the hairs serve. When I said the plant climbs, what I really meant is that it is a vine. So I guess it will attain whatever size it is allowed to, within reason. You could probably prune it to keep it compact.

Phil

phil i have just received S.Hursuta and S.Flavirostris are these two good plants to start with,i have potted them up with one part hort grit and one part multypurpose in the bottom half of the pot and a course sand and grit in the top half of the pot with a grit dressing,i have a friend who recommended me to pot them up like this

These are both nice species and should be pretty easy. The soil mix is not what I use but like CP enthusiasts, you will probably get about 12 answers to questions asked to 10 growers about what soil to use! It certainly sounds fine though.

The only other thing I would advise is to keep the plants dry all winter, unless you have them somewhere that is kept warmer, such as indoors.

Phil

Ceropegia flowers are designed to trap insects for pollination. The tube is lined with hairs pointing towards the bulb. Small flies can crawl forward but can not get out once in. Very much in the same manner that S. Psittacina traps its prey.
I have only ever grown the extremely common S. woodii, but this used to self pollinate. Shortly after the flower would drop a pair of pods would form.

Just thought I'd add that you can get cuttings of some of these from Paul Shirley Succulents.

Most are easy to root on dry media.

Hi Rob,

Personally I wouldn't recommend Paul Shirley. I find his plants are grown extremely soft. His greenhouse is heated for Hoya (a mostly tropical genus) and heavily shaded. Hardly ideal for Stapeliads. Francois Hoes is from Belgium and is a far better choice. http://users.skynet.be/fhoes/rsasucculents/index.htm

He is closed for Stapeliad sales now until next spring.

Phil

Cheers for that info.