stapelia

plural stapelias

1. biologyAny of the genus Stapelia of low-growing succulent plants, predominantly from South Africa, and often giving off an odour of rotten flesh.

   He had also a collection of stapelias and other small prickly plants; some of them were almost invisible without a magnifying glass, but most interesting.

   2010, Marianne North, Abundant Beauty: The Adventurous Travels of Marianne North, Botanical Artist, page 204

   2 more examples

   […]the instinctive faculty[…]sometimes falls into mistake and error, as in the instance which Mr. Kirby gives of the flesh-fly mistaking the blossom of the stapelia for carrion, the hen a piece of chalk for an egg ; and he may add the instance given by Dr. Roget, of the vulture mistaking the skin of an animal stuffed with hay for the carcase.

   1835, The Gentleman′s Magazine, volume 159, page 234

   Prom.^([Promenaea]) stapelioides has 2-inch-wide yellow flowers with concentric red-brown markings, resembling the famous carrion flower stapelia, hence the epithet stapelioides.

   2005, Complete Guide to Orchids, Ortho Books, page 211

   Synonyms: carrion flower