Bot. [mod.L. (Linnæus, 1737) f. name of Jan Bode van Stapel, a Dutch botanist (died 1636): see -IA.] A South African genus of apocynaceous plants, remarkable for the fetid smell of the flowers, whence one species (S. hirsuta) is called Carrion-flower. Also, a plant of this genus.
1785. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xvi. (1796), 217. Stapelia … has a very large wheel-shaped corolla.
1834. Penny Cycl., II. 440/2. The leafless succulent stapelias.
1860. All Year Round, No. 63. 295. The carrion-scented flowers of stapelias.
Comb. 1842. Florist’s Jrnl. (1846), III. 76. Maxillaria stapeliflora, stapelia-flowered.
