Stapelia hirsuta

My recent post about the cacti and succulent show had me looking back at my photos of my Stapeliads and I realized that I had never uploaded photos from when my Stapelia hirsuta bloomed last September.  It was a busy time of year, shortly after our son joined our family, and we were getting used to being responsible for two kiddos!

Full plant in flower

Check out all that hair

This species is very similar to Stapelia gigantean, which blooms for me regularly.  The plant itself is nearly identical when not in bloom.  The flowers of S. hirsuta are more red with yellow rather than yellow with red and they are also much hairier, hence the specific epithet "hirsuta" (hirsute = hairy).

Petals have reflexed backwards

This house fly thinks he has found some dead meat

What struck me most about the flowers was how strongly the petals reflexed backwards when the flower opened.  I haven't noticed this with any other Stapelia species.

A look at the reflexed petals from the backside of the flower