Aristolochia watsonii | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Magnoliids |
Order: | Piperales |
Family: | Aristolochiaceae |
Genus: | Aristolochia |
Species: | A. watsonii
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Binomial name | |
Aristolochia watsonii | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Aristolochia watsonii (Watson's Dutchman's pipe, southwestern pipevine, Indian root, snakeroot) is a perennial plant [2] in the birthwort family ( Aristolochiaceae), found growing among plants of the Arizona Uplands in the Sonoran Desert. [3]: 138 The plant is inconspicuous, [3]: 138 small and hard to spot, but can be found by following the pipevine swallowtail (blue swallowtail, Battus philenor) which lays eggs on it. [2]
It grows as vine with scrambling stems that create a dense, tangled mat over the years when growing on open ground. [2] [3]: 138
According to one source, stems are 150 to 450 mm (6 to 18 in) long, with greenish-brown arrowhead-shaped 5 to 65 mm (1⁄4 to 2+1⁄2 in) leaves. [3]: 138 Another source states stems can reach 0.9 m (3 ft), in dense mats that are 0.3 to 0.6 m (1 to 2 ft) wide. [2] It drops its leaves in the fall and winter (cold- deciduous), and loses stems as well as leaves in a freeze. [2] In full sun and drought conditions, leaves turn from green to purple-brown. [2]
It has "bizarre" looking, musky-smelling flowers, which resemble the ear of a rodent. [3]: 138 It blooms from April to October. 25 to 40 mm (1 to 1+1⁄2 in) flowers are shaped like a rodent's ear [2] [3]: 138 are green or burgundy-brown outside to the ear rim, then green speckled with burgundy-brown inside, with hairs on the opening ear rim. [3]: 138 Flowers last 1–2 days. [2]
Fruits are capsules having five vertical ribs with triangular-shaped flat and black seeds in each of five compartments. [2]
Flowers shaped and smelling like a rodent's ear attract small blood-sucking flies, which are deceived by the appearance and odor and get trapped in the convoluted flower form for a day, then escape to pollinate another plant. [2] [3]: 138 It attracts the pipevine swallowtail, [4] and is where the butterfly gets its distasteful toxins that protect the butterfly from predation. [2] The caterpillar may eat all of the leaves on a plant, but they then grow back. [2]
All parts of this plant are toxic to humans. [2] [5]
It is found from Arizona to western Texas, in mountains at elevations from 600 to 1,400 m (2,000 to 4,500 ft). [3]: 138
Native Americans believed it could be used to treat snakebites, hence its common names Indian root[ citation needed] or snakeroot. [3]: 138 It is currently found in some nurseries that feature native plants as it is a good landscape plant in a butterfly garden. [6]