# aristolochia



## Trithor (Sep 6, 2013)

At long last this plant has started to grow. It sulked while it was in the greenhouse, and at long last started to grow when I moved it outdoors.


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## likespaphs (Sep 6, 2013)

do you know which species?
that's groovy!


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## abax (Sep 7, 2013)

I have no idea what this plant is. Is it a vining plant? The bloom is
intriguing and a little spooky. Does it have a smell? Somehow it just
looks like one of those plants that stink up close. I like it though.


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## Trithor (Sep 7, 2013)

Angela, I agree, that is why I am too scared to put my nose too close to try and find out. It does not seem to attract flies, so perhaps not. Yes it is a vining plant. I have another three species, and will post a pic of them when they flower.
Sorry, I have no idea which species it is.


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## paphioboy (Sep 7, 2013)

Very interesting... This one really looks like a Sarracenia..


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## John M (Sep 7, 2013)

Cool! Does it make seeds?


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## Clark (Sep 7, 2013)

Thumbs up for Dutchman's pipe.


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## W. Beetus (Sep 7, 2013)

You don't see this one every day! Great bloom.


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## abax (Sep 7, 2013)

There you go, Clark...Dutchman's Pipe. I knew it reminded me of a wild
flower that one occasionally sees around here. Gary's looks to be a great
deal bigger than the native bloom.


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## Clark (Sep 8, 2013)

Abax, I thought this was labeled as a invasive species for the US.

btw, this looks incredible against a background of castor bean or canna phasion.
We grew this as a container plant, letting it vine on the deck railings.


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## Trithor (Sep 8, 2013)

John M said:


> Cool! Does it make seeds?



I don't know yet, it is the first year it has grown and flowered. Years previously it just sulked in the greenhouse. I am starting to think I must move all the orchids out as well, perhaps they will also grow?
I will have to dissect a flower to see how to pollinate it.


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## John M (Sep 8, 2013)

Finger's crossed! I googled Aristolochia and found many other species in the Genus; but, none that looked like this one. It's quite unique.


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## rob (Sep 8, 2013)

It is A. macroura from Brazil, it is endangered there


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## biothanasis (Sep 10, 2013)

Cool Aristolochia! We also have some species here, but nothing fancy in flower like this


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## Rick (Sep 13, 2013)

John M said:


> Finger's crossed! I googled Aristolochia and found many other species in the Genus; but, none that looked like this one. It's quite unique.




I googled the genus too after having my gigantea bloom. I think there are over a hundred species and some like grandiflora are some of the biggest flowers I've ever seen. Many like Trithor's are really bizarre:drool: As far as I can tell they are all fly pollinated, and the foliage is often an important food source for certain butterfly species. 

The native dutchman pipe or pipevine is eaten by the pipevine swallowtail caterpillar. But I read that some species of these Brazilian pipevines are toxic to the pipevine swallowtail, but perfectly fine to different butterfly species in its home range.


We planted native pipevine in two arbors at my house several years ago, and get a good showing of pipevine swallowtail action almost every year since the plants matured. Although I've seen plenty of flies exploring the flowers when its in bloom, this is the first year I've found a seed pod. For this species the flowers are only a couple of inches in length, but the seed pod is almost as big as an apple.


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## Trithor (Sep 14, 2013)

These measure 24cm from the top of the cap to the tip of the tail. Today I am going to dissect a flower to see how to pollenate it.


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## Trithor (Sep 14, 2013)

I can now confirm that these flowers stink. They have no smell at dawn or dusk, but have a foetid odour in the heat of the day. They are definitely fly pollenated. When I cut the flower open I found 8 flies trapped inside. There are quite long hairs in the neck, which are orientated to allow flies entry, but also prevent them from getting out. This would seem to indicate that the flowers would not be able to cross pollenate, unless as the flower ages the hairs wither first and allow the flies to escape? on a freshly opened bloom, the pollen does not seem to be mature yet, so perhaps it functions to prevent self pollination, so that flies trapped inside cannot self pollenate the flowers? Does anyone have any further info or ideas


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## Rick (Sep 14, 2013)

I haven't dissected any flowers, but your hypothesis of the hairs acting to prevent escape and cross pollination sounds plausible.

When our pipevine is in bloom, it can have hundreds of flowers open (with no shortage of flies). So I think its pretty crazy that over 5-7 years, we've only had a big seed pod produced this one time. I have found maybe 2-3 small seedpods produced in the last couple years.

The flowers aren't very long lasting, so timing must be critical.

There are two arbors we planted, but they were supposedly two different species A. macrophylla and A. tomentosa. They look very similar to me, but there doesn't seem to be significant cross pollination going on between the two unrelated plants since only one has ever produced the seed pods. My wife and I have extensively explored the woods in our area, and have not come across any pipevine that we can remember, and don't think any of our neighbors have planted any. So maybe the dearth of local unrelated stands is keeping our plant from frequent seed set?? 

I guess this all assumes that what happens to these common US species is a model for your rare Brazilian species.


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## Rick (Sep 14, 2013)

Trithor said:


> I can now confirm that these flowers stink. They have no smell at dawn or dusk, but have a foetid odour in the heat of the day.



The fragrance from my A. gigantea flowers is not totally unpleasant, a mix of good and bad smells. But I have not seen any pollinators looking at the flowers.


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## Trithor (Sep 14, 2013)

Rick said:


> The fragrance from my A. gigantea flowers is not totally unpleasant, a mix of good and bad smells. But I have not seen any pollinators looking at the flowers.



This smell is decidedly unpleasant. 
After I cut the first bloom apart, I looked at a few others of various ages. When the mouth is still closed, all internal parts appear full developed. As the flower opens, the hairs in the 'throat' are at maximum length, and although they will allow a fly to enter, it cannot get out. The pollen is fixed at this stage and does not appear to be able to be removed by a fly. As the flower matures the stigmatic surface closes, and the hairs in the throat become flaccid, allowing the flies to escape. There are no flies trapped in wilting flowers, and the stigmatic surface is folded closed in these flowers. The pollen is more friable and has raised itself from its previous position.

So it looks as if flies are free to move in and out of wilting flowers and collect pollen, but cannot deposit pollen, but any flies entering a newly opened bloom are trapped there until the following day, by which time I assume they have pollenated the flower.


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## Rick (Sep 14, 2013)

I had a couple of spent blooms of gigantea to open. No hairs or flies inside.

A tight little group of anther like structures protrudes from the ovary end of the stem, but I didn't fold any back to see what the shape of the stigma was underneath.

This is pretty interesting as it seems like for efficient pollination a flie must bumble around inside the flower for a couple of days to collect pollen and after release, it goes into a fresher one and bumbles around for another couple of days.


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## Trithor (Sep 14, 2013)

It is kind of interesting (that or paph growers are obsessed with doing puzzles) I will cut a couple of blooms and post some pics in the morning. I am sure if you dissect a fresh gigantea bloom, you will find the hairs that I am referring to. They all but disappear when the bloom is spent.


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## Rick (Sep 14, 2013)

Trithor said:


> It is kind of interesting (that or paph growers are obsessed with doing puzzles) I will cut a couple of blooms and post some pics in the morning. I am sure if you dissect a fresh gigantea bloom, you will find the hairs that I am referring to. They all but disappear when the bloom is spent.



Maybe paph growers are just generally obsessed!

My gigantea may be played out for the season. I couldn't find any developing buds. But I'll keep my eyes open from more.

Given the flower face is 6-8 inches across, I was surprised to find the neck seemed to shrink down to maybe a 1/4 inch or so in these old spent flowers. There were some short coarse hairs in the neck, but they didn't seem like an impediment.


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