stapelia
noun
Forms stapelias
- noun (botany) Any of the genus Stapelia of low-growing succulent plants, predominantly from South Africa, and often giving off an odour of rotten flesh.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Stapelia, the genus name, after J. B. van Stapel.
Webster’s 1913
- noun An extensive and curious genus of African plants of the natural order Asclepiadaceæ (Milkweed family). They are succulent plants without leaves, frequently covered with dark tubercles giving them a very grotesque appearance. The odor of the blossoms is like that of carrion.
Etymology [NL. So named after John Bodæus a Stapel, a physician of Amsterdam.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “stapelia”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details