a very strange flower

I do find this flower strikingly sinister - such a thing never bloomed in England nor New Jersey (at least, outside of a hothouse) - and here it is, anticipating Halloween on our terrace.   Indeed, it's the product of a cactus that has spawned four or five of the things.   They look rather like beached starfish - this one looks atypically robust, because usually they sprawl in a collapsed and flaccid manner, and then, to detract from their appearance still more, something about them attract large and thirsty flies, like horse flies.   I'm puzzled by the fact that Alice claims to like them: myself, I think I'll stick, very conservatively, to geraniums.