You can move them outside in the heat of summer or grow them in a greenhouse. Growing starfish flowers as houseplants is ideal in most zones of the United States. Just remember to bring it back inside if you live in any zone outside of USDA plant hardiness zone 9 to 11. Of course, this is when you must cope with the smell, but you can move it outside if the odor is too offensive. The wide succulent branches have little ornamental use themselves, but once the flowers arrive in summer, the plant has a high wow factor. More common uses of starfish cactus are as an ornamental specimen that is quite a conversation piece. The insects are drawn to the carrion stench and sit mesmerized on the flower unable to move. If you have a fruit fly infestation or other pest, try moving your stinky plant darling into the area. This reek is attractive to insects that seek out dead organic material. The flowers ripen to a rather horrifying odor after a couple of days. The “ gigantea” is the most commonly collected, as a showy specimen with foot wide flowers. Stapelia is the family name of the starfish flower cactus. Flowers are red to brown and may be mottled with a couple of colors. The scent attracts flies and other insects, which pollinate the blooms.
Starfish flower cactus may produce amazing five-petaled flowers that exude a rather unpleasant odor. They are thickly skinned and resemble carrion flesh. They are soft stemmed plants without spines spreading out from a central point. These plants aren’t exactly cactus, but are members of the succulent group of plants. This plant species is native to South Africa, so growing starfish flowers usually requires warm, humid temperatures or a specialized greenhouse environment. These stinky, but spectacular, plants share similar traits to those from the carnivorous family in that they possess insect attracting flora (but are not carnivorous), which range in size from a couple of inches (5 cm.) high to plants that bear 12-inch (30 cm.) wide flowers. Starfish cacti ( Stapelia grandiflora) are also more morbidly called the carrion flower.
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