A stink in time...

The Duvaliandra dioscoridis started opening while we were running around setting up for a champagne "celebrate spring" party.  Oooh, fancy.  I have to admit I was a little worried that people would walk over and try to smell it.  Of course, I did, and....ugh!  Not dirty socks like the Stapelia scitula, this little stinker smells like straight-up poo!  Fortunately, you have to be right up to it to appreciate the aroma.  I smell a prank coming on later tonight....(heehee)

Slowly, but surely, the leaves opened up over the next several hours.   I think it's a pretty nice accomplishment, and I am feeling rather satisfied with my superior indoor gardening abilities.  I really hope I can bloom it again....even better yet, bloom all of these random Stapeliads I've got growing right now.  Maybe I don't have superior indoor gardening abilities, but plants have an incredible adaptive capacity to grow despite being confronted with less-than-ideal circumstances.  Supposedly, these plants grow in the shade of larger plants and stones in the wild, and this was my reasoning behind selecting them for my northern window succulent garden.  Despite accusations to the contrary, I really don't like killing off succulents, but they are so interesting it is impossible not to at least try to grow them.

Here are some more photos of the flower once it completely opened:

Note that an arm is starting to branch out from the main stem!  Cool!