Stisseria grandiflora 

Family

Apocynaceae

Native

South eastern Africa

Description

Stapelia grandiflora is a tufted cactus-like plant with large and showy star-fish shaped flowers. Stapelia grandiflora is a very variable species with many hybrids both in the wild and in cultivation. Growing up to 20 cm (8 in) tall, it is a clump-forming succulent with erect green stems 3 cm thick.

Blooms are produced from the base on younger shoots they are large, flat, star fish-shaped, orange, dark-red, deep brown-purple to chocolate, with transverse brow to whitish corrugation and densely covered by long purplish hairs at the centre that remember the fur of a dead animal. Pedicels 3-7 cm long, 4-5 mm in diameter, thickened at the base shorter than the corolla. Undersides red to greenish. Corolla width very variable, from 5-22 cm across and very deeply lobed. Flowers are intermittently produced throughout the late summer and autumn.

Environment

In general they are drought-resistant succulents suited for rockeries, and the small-flowered species are suitable as container Cactus.

They are excellent subjects for a water-wise garden, Provided that they are not over-watered and are given a warm position.

They like a sunny position and will also grow in light, semishade in hot climates. The soil should have good drainage

Landscape Uses

Some large-flowered species make a good show when grown in masses in the garden.