Stapelia hirsuta var. tsomoensis flowers

The flowers of Stapelia hirsuta var. tsomoensis grow in inflorescences of four to nine, emerging from near the base of young stems and opening successively. The pedicel or stalk of the flower may be up to 2,5 cm long, covered in velvety hairs. The sepals are lance-shaped with pointed tips and velvety surface hairs, longer ones on the margins.

In bud the corolla is pale green, covered in short, soft hairs, globose or globular in shape with pointy protrusions. The open corolla spreads widely, its ovate lobes attenuating to acutely pointed tips. These lobes become about 2,6 cm long, the corolla diameter being about 7 cm. Long, soft, purplish hairs cover the flower centre around the corona. Similar hairs are present on the corolla lobe margins, the hairs often pointing inwards, not in the photo. Transversal ridges wrinkle the lobe surfaces, the ridges sometimes coloured greenish or dirty yellow.

The outer corona has five oblong to linear lobes with concave surfaces, dark purple or brownish purple in colour, spreading and ascending. The inner corona, similarly coloured, is variable and smaller, its lobes triangular to linear and attenuating (White and Sloane, 1937).