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Aristolochia watsoni

Pipevine or Indian-root or Southwestern pipevine or Birthwort or Snakeroot

Hide this shy little plant in your garden and the Pipevine Swallowtail will STILL find it! And check out those weird flowers!

Vine-like perennial with trailing stems coming from a thick root. The plant can be difficult to see in the wild. Leaves are triangular/arrow-shaped, dark purplish-green. Flowers are formed singly along the stem; they are tubular, curving down, then up—resembling a Dutchman’s pipe. They are purplish-brown with a fetid odor to attract insects to ensure pollination. Fruit is a 4- to 6-valved capsule containing numerous seeds. Pipevine is toxic.


QuickFacts Description Growth Forms: Vine, Perennial. Mature Height: 3 feet Mature Width: 3 feet Flowering Seasons: Spring (mid February - April), Summer Rainy Season (July - mid September), Fall (Octover - November) Similar Plants: <i>Aristolochia fimbriata</i>, a South American pipevine, is occasionally found at botanical gardens’ plant sales and also is a larval foodplant for the Pipevine Swallowtail. Gardening Planting Zone: Mini Oasis Water Use: Moderate Exposure: Partial or Filtered Shade Hardy to: Hardy, but threshold unknown Planting Season: Spring (mid February - April) Growth Rate: Moderate Availability: Hard to find but well worth it. Check native plant specialty nurseries and botanical gardens’ nurseries. In the Wild Habitat: Usually among shrubs Elevation: 2000 to 4500 ft. Native Range: Western Texas to southern Arizona.

Landscape Use: Butterfly Garden.

This native vine needs only a tiny space in a butterfly garden; it seems quite amazing the Pipevine Swallowtail can find it! To attract this lovely butterfly, grow pipevine in a patio container or garden bed where you?ll remember to water it. They are hard to see!

Planting Tips: Plant any time from one-gallon (or smaller) container. Pipevine is not commonly used as a landscape plant, and is therefore hard to find in nurseries. Try nurseries that specialize in native plants. It can grow in ordinary desert soil, but you can help it along by adding some handfuls of sand and compost and mixing into the planting hole. Water immediately after planting.

Gardening Tips: Pipevine will need watering weekly in the warm season. You can provide a small trellis for it using a piece of dried yucca stalk, a small tree branch, a simple garden stake, or a piece of outdoor sculpture. Grow in partial shade.

Problems: The caterpillar of the Pipevine Swallowtail will eat the leaves of the plant, but that?s what we want! The pipevine will develop a thick root from which it will grow a new vine for several years.

Attracting Wildlife

Wildlife Attraction: Butterflies.
Wildlife Use: Larval foodplant for Pipevine Swallowtail. Pollinated by Ceratopognid flies. These flies are small and blood-sucking. The pipevine flower smells musty and resembles a mouse’s ear. The fly is lured in, trapped for the night, covered with pollen, and released.

Names

Family: Aristolochiaceae (Birthwort Family)
Scientific Name (Genus species): Aristolochia watsoni
Pronounced ah-ris-toe-LOK-e-ah WAT-sun-eye Named after Sir William Watson, 18th century English botanist. The name “birthwort” comes from the use of the plant during difficult births-powerful toxins stimulate expulsion of the fetus and placenta. “Indian Root” is given to the Arizona species, here. It was reported to have been used for snakebite, and for other ailments (although it should be considered toxic). “Pipevine” refers to the flowers which resemble curved Dutchman’s pipes.
Common Names: Pipevine, Indian-root, Southwestern pipevine, Birthwort, Snakeroot
Spanish Names: Hierba del indio, Guaco

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