Stapelia lepida

UMaine Alert

Posted: April 19, 2024 - 1:32 PM

At approximately 9:24 a.m. on Friday, April 19, a University of Maine graduate student was struck by a university vehicle on Long Road at the University of Maine campus in Orono. The student reports that they are at a local hospital with minor injuries.

Emergency services, including the Orono Fire Department, University Volunteer Ambulance Corps, University of Maine Police Department, Orono Police Department and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

The university vehicle involved in the incident was a Chevrolet Express van. It was being operated by a university employee.

Counseling services and support are available for students, faculty or staff who may have been affected. The Counseling Center can be reached at 207-581-1392 and the Dean of Students Office can be reached at 207-581-1406.

The scene has been cleared and Long Road is now accessible. An investigation is being conducted by the University of Maine Police Department with assistance from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office Crash Reconstruction Unit. Any witnesses to the incident are encouraged to contact Lt. Noel Santiago at noel.santiago@maine.edu.

Commonly called “carrion flower,” Stapelia lepida has more than earned its name. Although the plant itself is unassuming and could easily be overlooked in its natural habitat, it is actually quite deceitful.Preferring to live low to the ground and most often under the shade of another taller plant, S. lepidabides its time for much of the year. Only upon flowering does the deceitful nature of this small succulent become clear. The flower of S. lepida is visually appealing, and many collectors grow S. lepida simply for the beauty and uniqueness of the flower itself. The secret, however, is the smell. The scent of the flower of S. lepida is strikingly similar to that of rotting flesh.[1] This is of course no accident, as S. lepida uses this smell to attract flies that find the odor enticing and subsequently lay their eggs on the flower, convinced it is a corpse that will provide food for their newly hatched larvae. In most cases of pollination the process is beneficial for both the plant and the pollinator; the plant gets fertilized and the pollinator is provided with nectar or pollen as a food source. In the case of S. lepida, the pollinator is deceived into thinking it has found a suitable place to lay its eggs and instead has wasted valuable energy and deposited eggs that will not survive.[2]

[1] Andreas, J., Stefan, D. & Ulrich, M. (2006) The chemical nature of fetid floral odours in stapeliads (Apocynaceae-Asclepiadoideae-Ceropegieae). New Phytologist 172:452-468.

[2] Urru, I., Stensmyr, M.C. & Hansson, B.S. (2011) Pollination by brood-site deception. Phytochemistry 72:1655-1666.