Stapelia gigantea

I was a teenager during the 1970s, which was arguably the decade where Rock and Roll really became a cultural phenomenon. Among my favorite bands of that era is Lynyrd Skynyrd. Their fifth studio album, “Street Survivors,” was released just three days prior to the plane crash that took the lives of several band members including the group’s founder Ronnie Van Zant. Sadly, as I completed this article, Gary Rossington, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s last living original member, passed away at age 71. The second cut on the “Street Survivors” album, “That Smell,” written by Van Zant, has the lyrics “Ooh that smell, can’t you smell that smell. Ooh that smell, smell of death surrounds you.” I wonder if Ronnie had ever been around the blooms of Stapelia gigantea. This South African native has stunning flowers that look like a starfish, but that smell! Ooh that smell! It has very aptly earned the common name carrion flower.

Stapelia is a succulent plant from the family Apocynaceae. This family, commonly known as Dogbanes, contains plants that are toxic to dogs and other mammals as well, including humans. In North America, Amsonia is a relative, as well as the Mediterranean plant genus Nerium, or oleander. While many plants in this family are toxic, there are a substantial number of pharmaceuticals derived from plants in the family as well.

Stapelia gigantea is hardy to USDA Zone 9, where it thrives in sunny locations with well-drained soil. It looks like a spineless cactus, forming low-growing patches 12-18 inches tall. It is drought-tolerant once established. Its flowers are both the most beautiful quality of the plant and its greatest detraction. The pale yellow to orange starfish flowers have five points and can be well over a foot across. They are beautiful, and the temptation is to reach out and touch them.

There are stunning plantings of Stapelia gigantea at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona. When I visited last October, there were no blooms on the plants. We grow it at Little Prince, so I get my share of beautiful flowers at work. When it’s blooming in a greenhouse and the temperature inside passes 90 degrees, the smell of death surrounds you. That smell, ooh that smell!