Meet Stella: One of the Most Unique Flowers We’ve Ever Seen

At Karin’s Florist, we’re always looking for flowers that make us stop and say, “What is that?”

Meet the Stella flower.

With its unusual shape, rich color and almost sculptural appearance, Stella doesn’t look like the flowers you see every day. And that’s exactly why we love it.

What Is a Stella Flower?

The Stella flower is also known as the Inírida flower or Flor de Inírida. It comes from a remarkably small region near the Colombian-Venezuelan border, where it grows in the white-sand savannas of Colombia’s Guainía region. The flower is so closely connected to this area that it has become an important symbol of the region.

Stella’s appearance is difficult to compare to another flower. Its tightly layered, pointed petals create a wonderfully architectural shape that can look a little like a star, a pinecone and an exotic tropical bloom all at once.

Depending on the season and stage of maturity, Stella can appear in shades ranging from pink and burgundy to pale mauve, peach and touches of green.

A Flower With an Incredible Story

Stella is beautiful, but where it comes from makes it even more interesting.

The Inírida flower grows naturally in an environment that is challenging for many plants. The soil is nutrient-poor, and the region experiences dramatic seasonal changes, including periods of flooding and drought. Yet Stella thrives there.

Historically, these flowers were collected from the wild. Today, cultivation using Indigenous knowledge has helped create a more sustainable source of Stella flowers while providing economic opportunities for Indigenous families in the region.

It’s a wonderful example of how something extraordinarily beautiful can also have a meaningful story behind it.

The Flower That Keeps Going

Here’s another reason we find Stella fascinating: its beauty doesn’t necessarily end when the fresh flower does.

Stella is sometimes referred to as an “everlasting flower” because it retains its distinctive shape as it dries. Its fresh color gradually changes and fades, but the sculptural form remains.

That means you can remove the Stella from your arrangement when the other flowers have finished, dry it and continue enjoying it.

For flower lovers, that makes Stella especially fun. You’re not just discovering an unusual fresh flower. You may have a keepsake from the arrangement long after the other blooms are gone.

Why Our Designers Love Stella

For our designers, Stella is all about texture.

A single stem can completely change an arrangement. Tucked among roses, chrysanthemums, hydrangea and other familiar flowers, Stella immediately catches your eye and makes you look a little closer.

It can feel modern, organic, exotic and sophisticated all at once.

And we love that moment when someone sees one in an arrangement for the first time and asks:

“What is that flower?”

Those are some of our favorite flowers to introduce.

Look for Stella at Karin’s Florist

Because Stella is unusual and available in limited quantities, you won’t find it in every Karin’s Florist arrangement. But when we can get our hands on exceptional flowers like these, our designers love finding creative ways to use them.

You may spot Stella adding unexpected texture to one of our seasonal bouquets, or making a statement in a one-of-a-kind design.

So the next time you receive flowers from Karin’s, take a closer look. You never know what interesting bloom might be tucked inside.

After 70 years in the flower business, we still get excited when we discover something we haven’t seen before.

And Stella is definitely a flower worth remembering.