Orbea is a stapeliad genus of about 56 species, occurring from southern and eastern Africa into Arabia. Members of Ceropegieae, they are distinguished by their star-shaped flowers with a distinct central ring, the feature referenced in the name Orbea. The flowers can be showy and usually stand out strongly against the pale stems, which are often marked with distinctive splotchy pigmentation, mottled with purples and red dots. This allows certain species to be recognizable even when not in bloom. The succulent stems resemble those of allied genera but are somewhat more fragile. Some breakage in transit may be inevitable, though the plants regenerate quickly. This rarely offered species was described in 2008 from Dhofar, Oman, a remarkable but still underexplored region with much to offer both botanists and herpetologists. The flowers have long, narrow lobes that resemble a clasped claw or the legs of a spider.
