Is anyone able to help me identify this plant? Thank you. When the bud opens, you can smell the flower for a long distance and the patio is buzzing with flies!
I don't know cactus very well, but that sure looks like the plant that came with my office. I have never known what kind of cactus it was. When you say smelly, do you mean stinky, as in foul, bad stinky? Cause that makes me guess Stapelia, which does look like our plants. Stapelia makes flowers that smell of carion/rotting meat that attracts flies as pollinators.
Eric is correct, it is a Staplia, though until the flower opens we won't know what type. Keep us posted Ed
It smells much worse than rotten meat. It smells like an open sewer! I've had this plant about 6 years. The way I get it to bloom is to absolutely flood it and let it sit with wet roots a few days, then dry the soil completely. It blooms in late summer here but not every year. This bud is about 7 inches long from stem to tip. There is another one just behind it (not visible in the photo) that is only about 1/4 inch long. It will open very rapidly and then curl open like a star all creamy yellow and magenta in tiny tiny stripes. I will take some photos and post them when it blooms within a day or so. Thank you so much for help in identifying it.
Hi, here are some photos of the Stapelia bloom. There are now two more buds. Yipee! This first bloom did not have the typical rotting meat odor as blooms have had in years past -- so odor can't be a litmus test for identifying this plant after all. I didn't know that the bloom odor could vary from year to year.
Óóó! I'm mad about these beautiful flowers... :) It's a Stapelia gigantea. Here are great photos about other very-very interesting flowers, if you like the Stapeliads: http://www.cactus-mall.com/stapeliad/picture1.html
Wow! Gorgeous. I gave the plant in my office a couple good soakings like umlighthouse suggested, and there is now a bud forming at the base. I think it is a flower. I will see what comes of it.
Lila, Thank you for the WONDERFUL site! I did not see one exactly like mine, so I sent the author some photos. Also to Eric, Here are some photos of the new buds. They do not appear at ground level, but up on one of the branches of the plant. You can see, also, the previous flower scar. I do hope you get to experience the excitement of watching your plant bud and then bloom. It's amazing!
Last month, I purchased one medium pot at a local flea market without knowing its ID. I propagated them into aprox.20 smaller pots. I saw one bud hanging on the mother plant, can't wait to see it boom and see more buds. Anyway, I write it to say thanks for the tip to flood them to get more flowers. Have a great week-end every one.
