''Stapelia leendertziae'', commonly known as black bells, is a species of

succulent plant In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meanin ...

in the family

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (, from '' Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison. Notable mem ...

that is native to

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

. Other common names include, carrion flower, carrion chalice, ''carrion flower'', rugose cup starfish, maroon cup starfish and star flower.Stapelia leendertziae N.E.Br.
A National Biodiversity Institute. Retrieved 28 November 2024.

Description

It forms succulent stems, with matt green to slightly shiny, more or less slender, four-ribbed shoots, the sides of which are strongly concave. The shoots grow from bent-down to upright and form compact growth forms. The leaflets are about 2.5 mm long and perishable. After the leaflets fall off, only white, crescent-shaped pockets remain around the base of the leaf.

Inflorescence

The purple flower bud is spherical or longitudinally oval and tapered at the apical point. It sits on a 2 to 3 cm long stalk. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s measure 0.6 to 1.2 cm in length. The dark red to purple corolla measures up to approx. 5 cm in diameter and is bell-shaped. The corolla tube is densely hairy on the inside. The corolla lobes are about 1 × 1 cm in size, triangular and moderately to strongly curved outwards. The edges are slightly hairy and the lobes are covered with transverse wrinkles on the inside. The

corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...

is brown to dark purple. The upright, interstaminal side lobes are deeply divided and narrow apically. The staminal side lobes are free, upright and up to about 9 mm long. They are rectangular and dorsoventrally flattened and basally elongated like a wing on the back. The apical process is very thin. The

pollinium A pollinium (: pollinia) is a coherent mass of pollen grains in a plant that are the product of only one anther, but are transferred, during pollination, as a single unit. This is regularly seen in plants such as orchid Orchids are plants tha ...

is broadly oval and measures 0.8 × 0.6 mm. Its flower mimics the smell, color, and texture of decaying flesh to attract flies to lay their eggs on its corolla as a form of pollination.The fruits stand individually and grow up to 15 cm long.Koekemoer (SANBI), M., Steyn (SANBI), H. M., & Bester (SANBI), S. P. (2022). Guide to plant families of southern africa. Opus at SANBI: Guide to plant families of southern Africa. Retrieved March 8, 2023, from http://opus.sanbi.org/handle/20.500.12143/5607

Distribution

It is native to

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

province and the

Northern Provinces The Northern Provinces of South Africa is a biogeographical area used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It is part of the WGSRPD region 27 Southern Africa. The area has the code "TVL". It includes the ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, and to

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are subtropical or tropical dry

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

and rocky areas.

Gallery

File:Stapelia leendertziae medium flower bud.jpg, The flower buds of ''Stapelia leendertziae'' File:Stapelia leendertziae small bud 01.jpg, The flower buds of ''Stapelia leendertziae''

References

Flora of the Cape Provinces Flora of KwaZulu-Natal Flora of Swaziland leendertziae Least concern plants Plants described in 1910 Taxa named by N. E. Brown {{Apocynaceae-stub