Stapelia lepida weird growth ....... ?????????????

I have had a this Stapelia lepida for some years now and it's started flowering 3 years ago. A month and a half ago i decided to cut parts of it and transplant them in their own pots.

It produced this structure a few weeks ago and i thought it's just another flower bud howerever this structure started growing over the weeks and it doesn't look like a flower bud anymore.

Does anyone know what it is?


Here is the usual flower bud


A flower


The unknown growth

Congratulations, you're a parent !! :-)

That's a pair of seedhorns...In a while they'll split and release the seeds, each with a bit of fluff so that they can be carried away by the wind....

Enjoy !

Wow never seen a Stapelia pod before, even stranger than the flowers... the flies must have done their job!

thanks people

how can i harvest these before they split open?

I don't want to harvest to soon or after they split open and i lose some of the seeds.

Quote :

Wow never seen a Stapelia pod before, even stranger than the flowers... the flies must have done their job!

i totally agree, 1st time i saw its flower i was so amazed. Looked like something reptilian, now these alien fruit horns

I think you can put a rubber band over the tip to stop it coming apart.

I would like to know where this plant can be purchased. My mother had one for years and it both bloomed and had the seed pods.

I have been looking for one close to ten years.

Would appreciate help in this matter. Thanks in advance.

Where are you located ?

i am the same, i have bought one and its on its way but i want to collect as many different varietys as i can... does anyone collect some here that might maybe wanna send a cut away?

Maybe you could put a sandwich baggie over the seedpods, and loosely twisttie it at the base, so everything can still grow, but when it is ripe and splits open you won't lose any of the seeds. I'd be hesitant to rubber band the tips because I wouldn't want to squeese the seeds, or interfere with it ripening process.

A band-aid works best in my experience. Wrap it around the middle of each horn. That way the pod can't split open and no seeds will escape. The seeds will stay nice and dry too. A clothes peg may also do the job but might be too heavy.

looks like varigata?