PlantFiles: Carrion Plant, Carrion Flower, Starfish Plant, Toad Plant, Zulu Giant
Stapelia gigantea

A long time friend of mine had this in her apartment when she was evacuated during Hurricane Gustav. She told me about the plant for years, however, I seemed to miss the blooms each year. Upon their return to South Louisiana, they found their home a total loss. However, our hearty little buddy here thrived potted in sandy soil with humidity of about 75-80%. The humidity levels were excessive as large sections of the roof were ripped off along with the heavy rains, and busted sprinkle system that poured water into the apartment when the roof gave into the winds and dropped in the park 300 yards behind their building!!! SCARY!!! She brought him to us to keep while she made arrangements to move back to Fort Worth. Let me tell you...this little dude went CRAZY blooming. He had one that dropped off unopened when we unloaded it, another had opened the day before. Today, I have 3 open, and 4 more coming fairly soon, with no signs of the blooms slowing down. Don't know if this is a southern nickname but another friend told me that she knew it by the name of a "Dead Horse Cactus". My cuttings I took from this plant (prior to her move to Louisana) were 4 small pieces that I did not allow to scale over. I left him potted in Miracle Grow soil, in the direct sun for at least 12 hours a day during the summer. Now they are stacked on top of each other, and will need to be transplanted next year. These cuttings are only 3 months old. The smell is noticeable but nothing I find overpowering. My old negative on this (and its very minor) is my nosy dogs cannot keep their snouts out of the blooms once they open.

The plant is an interesting novelty. I grow these as houseplant to protect from frost damage outdoor during the winter. They enjoy being outdoor in bright filtered sun light 3 seasons in a year. The flowers are curriously fun to watch, once full bloom and pollens are ripe - those produce a malordourous odor to attract pollinators -- the flies!!!.

I've been growing this plant since 1975 when a coworker gave me a piece. I was living in FL at the time and then moved to TX. In the winter of 1983-84, I nearly lost it when we had an extremely cold winter and even in the garage it died back to one piece. It had been very large until that. I was able to regrow it and it is large again and produces lots of flowers. Of course, they stink to high heaven, but it's small price to pay for such an incredible plant and flower.

What a weird, wonderful plant this is...

I grew it first quite moist in heavy shade outdoors. The plant looked nice, dark green and succulent, but it took 2-3 years to bloom. Now I have chunks of it in pots that receive direct sun some of the day, and filtered light the rest of the day. The pot with the sunnier exposure does best, and has been in bloom for a couple weeks now, and blooms reliably several times a year.

The flowers last just a day, but at peak bloom there are blooms on it almost all the time. And when there are blooms there are usually flies attracted to its subtle-to-moderate aroma of dead things. It's not a "pretty" thing, but oh so interesting...

this plant was a given to me during the summer of '05. i have kept it in the same 10" pot and watered it sparingly. so far it has bloomed twice about 2 months apart, this time with two flowers. i keep it outside during the summer months in indirect sun, and bring it in when night time temps drop below 50 F. i think it is a wonderful little succulent, as long as you don't sniff the flowers. they are rancid!
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Mine is like the others with the non smelly starfish plant. And i found it hates full sun.I think it should be grown as you would an epihpyllum. Fast drainage,part sun to bright shade. The scale problem is a real headache. I just wait for new plant growth.

I love this Stapelia, i have it in a west facing window. Its inside the house, sitting on my windowsill. I let it dry out and water it just a little when it needs it. The flowers never seem to get as big as my palm, but they are bigger than the others. The color is great and its just a over all great Stapelia!

I did not realize that this plant had a flower on it till I turned it around to let the back side get some sun and there it was. It lasts a long time too.

You can buy this plant from logee's greenhouse.I'm not advertising, it's just hard to find this plant.

This plant grows wonderfully in a pot of very sandy soil (without a drain hole) 45 miles north of Houston, TX. In the summer, I let the soil dry completely, then I soak it so that water stands in the pot for about 24 hours before I drain it off. I use Osmacote time-release pellets in late spring. Right now, the plant is in a 10 inch plastic pot and has 1 bloom (beige 5-pointed star with maroon circumferential intermittent stripes) and SIX MORE BUDS! It smells terrible and will attract flies from all around. In the winter, I bring it inside and place it on top of my desktop computer tower (warmer than room temperature) so that it can look out of a southern-facing window. This is an incredibly interesting plant!

These plants are beautiful and grow very nice in the temperate climate but they are always attacked by "cocciniglia cotonosa" either on the roots and stems (my experience). For this reason one have to apply specific drugs to kill the animals and often do cleaning and repotting.
Secondarly flowers formation is very difficult at the latitude where I live (Italy): once the small flowers develope the pot should not be moved or turned of one single millimiter and humidity should be very low otherwise the small flowers die. After 3 years of attempts I now have a plant with two flowers that are almost going to open.

San Antonio, TX
This plant which is usually grown in pots is known by several commom names which include the following: starfish flower, zulu-giant, carrion flower and giant toad. It is native to southern Africa and Mozambique. Soil should be well-drained (2 parts loam to 1 part sharp sand with small pebbles added). Do not water as much in winter. Once a month during the growing season, fertilize with a balanced fertilizer diluted to ½ the strength recommendation. When propagating from stem cuttings, take the cutting in spring as new growth is beginning. Before planting the cuttings, allow the cuttings to callus for 2-3 weeks. In San Antonio, I have found that it prefers partial sun and can withstand extreme heat. That yucky smell attracts flies that collect pollen dust and transports it to the next flower (if available), thus ensuring successful pollination. The most common causes of decline is over watering and not being protected from freezes.

I have two of these curiosities. Neither smells like rotting flesh when blooming. Another common name for this plant, and one I prefer [and one offered by Logee's Greenhouses] is "starfish plant."

My greenhouse science teacher gave me this plant at the end of semester last year and I love it. Mine must be a slightly different variety than the one described here though. It's flowers are a wonderful shade of maroon and their aroma is that of a rather decayed animal-perfect for attracting flies.

A neat and unusual care free plant, out side in summer, interesting large 8" star shape flower. Do not over water.

Interesting succulent, olive green and erect. Lots of branches. 4-sided spineless stems average up to 9 inches and about 1 inch thick. Cactus-like appearance.
Grown mostly for the starfish-shaped flower. Flowers are pale yellow with reddish stripes, covered with white hairs. Flower can average 8 to 12 inches across. It is said to look flesh-like, also reported to have a rotting meat odor, which attracts its main visitor, the fly, for pollinating.

One of the easiest plants to grow. The flower bud set after it was brought indoors, after spending the summer outside. It then "puffed up" for 2 weeks. Total time from bud set to open flower was 28 days.

This plant didn't seem to have the characteristic "stink". It has flowered inside the house with no odor. This maybe the exception, and not the rule.