Weird Plants Interest Me

When I was in high school I bought a giant vase and filled it with purple thistle I collected from the side of the highway and gave it to my mom on Mothers' Day. Another time I gave her a single spider mum, or what I had always thought was a spider mum. That picture is not as spindley as the thing I gave her.

Unique plants intrigue me.

Earlier this week I made a trip to the farmers' market. There was a nursery stand, where I purchased three small strawberry plants. When I was very small and my family moved into its first house, my parents bought me a few to plant in the front flower bed. Seven years later, when we moved again, the entire bed had been taken over by strawberries- my favorite fruit.

I've been fascinated with cacti for a while now. The scenic drive out to our aunt's house is lined with a beautiful blooming prickly pear variety which I have always enjoyed. As of late, I've been collecting dismembered cactus lobes and planting them along the side of my house.

Sitting on the table at the nursery stand there was a strange looking succulent, similar to a small cactus. It had one giant pod-like thing coming off of it- which I was told was a flower bud. I asked the lady what the plant was and she simply said it was a "carrion."

"Like meat?" I asked.
"yep."

Here is a picture of what it looked like on Tuesday:

On Wednesday, I took it out of the planter and put it in a (temporary) pot on my front porch. On Thursday it looked the same.

Friday, I was startled by what the plant looked like:
The flower is HUGE. It was also covered with flies. weird, weird, weird.I was so taken aback that I immediately came inside to google my new plant. This giant, hairy, striped, oddly fragranced fly attractor is a carrion flower. More specifically, the one I have is in the Stapelia family.

Carrion are unique in that they are not pollinated by bees or butterflies, they depend on flies. And they attract these flies by producing a foul odor- that of decaying meat... carrion. The flowers also have a sort of marbled, fleshy look to them.

WEIRD!

The odor of this particular one is not overwhelming- I hardly noticed it at first. However, I do not want flies gathering at my front door or to greet guests and have them say "What's that smell?" So I need to move my funky plant to a less prestigious location.

Now go look at the link above for the carrion flower and check out the photo of the Amorphophallus titanum in Wilhelma Botanical and Zoological Gardens in Stuttgart, Germany. Holy Magoo!