ARISTOLOCHIA PARVIFOLIA

Family:- ARISTOLOCHIACEAE

Common Name:- Small-leaved birthwort

Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Aristolochia (Gr) Best-childbirth.

Parvifolia (L) With small leaves.

General description:- Short to medium perennial, hairy at first.

Stems:-

a)10-40 cm.

b) simple or branched.

c) pubescent.

Leaves:-

1) Lamina:

a) 1-3 cm.

b) ovate-oblong, heart-shaped (cordate).

c) petiole, 0·1-1 cm.

Flowers:-

a) 30-60 mm long.

1) Tube:

a) short and slightly curved, swollen towards the base.

b) limb, up to twice as long as the tube, greenish-brown, often blotched with

chocolate.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule:

a) 10-20 mm.

b) spherical.

Key features:-

1) Pedicels shorter than petioles.

2) Capsule usually less than 1·5 cm.

3) Flowers brownish to purplish.

4) Limb greenish with reddish or violet-brown stripes.

Habitat:- Rocky places, scrub, fields, hedgerows.

Distribution:- E Aegean Is., Turkey, Cyprus and E. Med. On Crete known only

from the Elounda peninsula E. Crete.

Flowering time:- Dec-June.

Photo by:- Steve Lenton

Comments:-

Contrary to common belief this plant is not carnivorous. Insects attracted by its

smell of rotting meat descend into gaping mouth and down into the bulbous section,

where unable to escape owing to the downward pointing hairs, they become dusted

with pollen. There they remain until the flower begins to die and the hairs become

limp. Released they move onto the next flower and repeat the process pollinating it

in turn.