Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Stapelia gigantea
flor del lagarto, sapo gigante, Zulu gigante, carrion flower, giant toad plant, starfish flower
Stapelia gigantea forms large clumps of robust stems which may exceed 1 m in diameter and reach 3 m across on occasion.The flowers of S. gigantea are usually at least 200 mm across and may reach a diameter of 400 mm, which is amongst the largest in the plant kingdom (WFO, 2022).
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Magnoliophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida (= Dicotyledoneae)
Order
Gentianales
Family
Apocynaceae
Genus
Stapelia
Species
gigantea
Taxon category: Accepted
Syn.: Stapelia cyclista C.A. Lückh. 1st june 2021 family Asclepiadaceae changed to Apocynaceae.; Syn.: Ceropegia gigantea (N.E.Br.) Bruyns. (POWO, 2022);
Origin: Introduced - established
Year of first record: 2003
Mode of introduction: Intentional
Introduction Pathway: Intentional
Subpathway: Agriculture/Horticulture
Introduced status: Human dependent
Invasive status: Unlikely to become invasive
Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.
Distribution: Its native range is S. Tropical & S. Africa (POWO, 2022).
- Tropicos.org. (2017) Database of Missouri Botanical Garden. Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 06 Oct 2017 <http://www.tropicos.org
- Guézou, A. Trueman, M., Buddenhagen, E., Chamorro, S., Guerrero, A.M., Pozo, P., Atkinson, R. (2010) An extensive Alien Plan Inventory from the Inhabited Areas of Galapagos Plos One/ www.plosone.org. Volume 5/ Issue 4/e10276
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2022) Plants of the world online POWO (2022): Plants of the world online. Published on the Internet; Https://powo.science.kew.org/
You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.
This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Stapelia gigantea", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=2089. Accessed 30 April 2025.