PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Aristolochia watsonii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Magnoliids
Order:	Piperales
Family:	Aristolochiaceae
Genus:	Aristolochia
Species:	A. watsonii
Binomial name
	Aristolochia watsonii; Wooton & Standl.
Synonyms
	Aristolochia porphyrophylla Pfeifer;

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]

Description

Growth pattern

It grows as vine with scrambling stems that create a dense, tangled mat over the years when growing on open ground.^[2]^[3]^: 138

Roots, stems, and leaves

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]

Inflorescence and fruit

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]

Ecological interactions

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]

Toxicity

All parts of this plant are toxic to humans.^[2]^[5]

Habitat and Distribution

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

Human use

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]