Pipeflowers

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The pipe flowers (Aristolochia), also called pipe winches or Easter luce, are a plant genus in the family of Easter luce plants (Aristolochiaceae). The 300 to 550 species are widespread in many climate areas. Some climbing plant species are most common in culture because of their heart-shaped foliage and unusually shaped flowers.

Description

Appearance and leaves
Aristolochia species grow as evergreen or leafy, woody shrubs or climbing plants (lanes) or rarely independently upright, usually low-lying, climbing or climbing, persistent herbaceous plants. Tubers are often formed as enduring organs. The plant parts often contain essential oils. Secondary thickness growth occurs from a conventional cambium ring.

The foliage leaves arranged alternately and screw-like are sometimes divided into a leaf sheath, but always into leaf stem and leaf spread. The very short to long leaf stems are often grooved on the upper side. The skinned to leathery leaf spreads are simple and often heart-shaped or less often three- to seven-lobed. The foliage leaves can be dotted with a gland. The leaf nerve is very different depending on the species. There are no side leaves, but there are sometimes “pseudostiples”.

Flowers and flowers
The flowers stand together individually in the leaf armpits or on the trunk (caulifloria) or in several pendant or stem-borne, cymous, grapey, crisp or other flowering positions. There are bolds.

The small to large, poorly smelling or odorless flowers are usually strongly zygomorphic, rarely radiarly symmetrical and three-fold with a simple flower shell. There are only chalice leaves but no crown leaves. The three chalice leaves have grown into a tube. The chalice tube, which is often hairy on the inside, is often elongated and curved straight or near its base to S-shaped, as well as cylindrical or funnel-shaped on top with a tongue-, disc- or almost shield-shaped chalice lip, which ends in one to three chalice flaps or, less often, up to six chalice teeth. The colors of the chalice leaves range from green, brown over red to purple. There are rarely three, five, usually six or twelve fertile stamens, which have grown together into a tube and with the stylus into a gynostemium. Three, five or usually six fruit leaves are completely grown into a subordinate, three-, five- or six-chambered and three-, five- or hexagonal fruit knot. The stylus area of the gynostemium is three-, five- or six-lobed. The tetrasporangiate dust bags may have appendages. Each fruit knot chamber contains 20 to 50 suspended or horizontal, mostly anatropic seed plants in central-angle placement. At the base of the boilers there are two to six nectaries. A discus may be present.

Fruit and seed