On 8/13/2013 5:03 AM, Mad Cow wrote:
In , writes
The lady across the street gave it to me years ago. It looked like a
spiky green snake. After a year, it was twice as long but otherwise the
same. I asked if it would do anything else. She assured me it would do
stuff. Sure enough, it started branching and now it blooms fairly often.
She didn't tell me what it was and I doubt that she knew. She probably
thought it was some kind of cactus, but the flowers say otherwise. She
has now moved away, so I can't ask anyway. (two pictures attached)

Steve

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It's not a cactus (they have spines!) but belongs to the same group as
Stapelia variegata which I have. Yours is more desirable, especially if
it doesn't smell like something rotten.

Stapeliads are exotic and often very beautiful, especially in pictures
where you can't smell them. See here for instance:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martin_...7594229096037/


Thanks Sue. I knew it wasn't a cactus because of the flowers. I might
have figured this out on my own if I had worked on it. Of course, I
wanted an excuse to post my pictures here anyway.
It crossed my mind that the flowers resembled pictures I had seen
labeled as carrion flowers. If I had searched "carrion flowers" on
Wikipedia, I would have recognized Stapelia as the one I was thinking
of. I would have gotten at least that far. I actually didn't realize
that Stapelias were plants that (in some cases) resemble cactus.
Thanks for the link, they certainly come in a nearly endless number of
varieties. By the way, I have never noticed any smell at all from the
flowers on my plant. When I get a chance, I'll get my nose in close and
see if there is a faint smell that I have been missing. Steve