stapelia
stapelia noun: any of the genus Stapelia of low-growing succulent plants, predominantly from South Africa, and often giving off an odour of rotten flesh.
Noun
stapelia (plural stapelias)
- Any of the genus Stapelia of low-growing succulent plants, predominantly from South Africa, and often giving off an odour of rotten flesh.
- […]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...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
Examples of stapelia in a sentence
- 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.1835, The Gentleman′s Magazine, volume 159, page 234:
- 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:
Synonyms of stapelia
Forms of stapelia
| plural | stapelias |
|---|
Origin of stapelia
From Stapelia, the genus name, after J. B. van Stapel.
Questions about stapelia
- What does stapelia mean?
- Stapelia means any of the genus Stapelia of low-growing succulent plants, predominantly from South Africa, and often giving off an odour of rotten flesh.
- How do you use stapelia in a sentence?
- 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.
- What part of speech is stapelia?
- Stapelia is a noun.
- What is the plural of stapelia?
- The plural of stapelia is stapelias.
Words near stapelia in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: stapelia (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “stapelia.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stapelia. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.