I have had this succulent for about 10 years, but I don't know what it is called. Every year it produces one flower. The first year it produced a flower was quite exciting, as the bulb continued to grow and grow and our curiosity about what the flower would look like grew with it. It grew quite large and then finally one day it opened, to our extreme delight. This year, after being potted in a larger pot and new soil, the plant has produced two flowers, but they are much smaller than that initial one (that to my memory was almost the size of a fist). The plant itself has a velvety texture, no spines. The stems are square. I'll try attaching some photos, but I'm not very savvy at that sort of thing. Regards, lupin59
Re: Succulent Identification It's a Stapelia of some sort. I probably have an antiquated name there, as the genus has undergone taxonomic revision lately and I'm not up on it. I have a different species of the same plant, and it puts out a leopard-print flower. If I had to guess, I'd go with S. glanduloflora or S. grandiflora. Does yours smell like rotting meat?
Re: Succulent Identification Thank you, Lorax. From looking at some images online I think Stapelia grandiflora is a good match. It was quite interesting to read up on the Stapelia. Perhaps if I follow some of the instructions I read I will have more blooms. I had never noticed a smell before, but after reading about the rotting carrion smell I put nose to flower and decided it was a rotten enough smell that I didn't want to spend much time deciding what I thought it smelled like most. The bloom is a day or so old now and I'd imagine the scent would have been much stronger when it first opened. Common names: starfish flower, starfish cactus, and carrion plant all seem quite apropos. Thanks again!
