Expert: Greg Simpson - 8/24/2005

Question
along my carporthere in florida i have lot aloeplants  cactus well few yearago i bought this one from charity sale , stuck in ground well last week  it produce these alien like blubs big bulbs i came home from work this morning one had bloom and it looks llike a giant starfish lightly color five star wavey line maybe light pink with dark red waveylines beautiful i took pic what is it ty

Answer
Dear Bonnie,

Actually what your refering to sounds like a Stapeliad. A Stapeliad or carrion flower as they are called commonly is a succulent plant from Africa. The reason that are called carrion flowers are because the flowers can sometimes smell like rotting meat and are polinated by flies rather than bees.

Go to this website and see if you can locate your plant. Hope this helps.

http://www.cactus-mall.com/stapeliad/

Sincerely,

Greg