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Looks good, smells bad
This is a fascinating plant called a stapelia that my friend Edith Page gave me several years ago. Each year in late summer we eagerly await the appearance of large “pods” which open into strange flowers that feel like human skin, have fine hair all over, and smell like rotten meat. The only insect interested in them is the green botfly (if you look closely they can be seen near the centers of the flowers), who find their stench irresistible. Every time she goes out, my pug also has to stop to cautiously sniff them (and quickly pull her head back in distaste). Our husbands cannot understand why we love our bizarre stapelias and insist on starting more and more plants until our porches are filled with them. And with botflies! Lisa Hlavnicka |
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