Aristolochia Species, European Birthwort

A strange looking plant. But you may want it even if you are not that into the "weird" (I am), because it is a preferred food source of t...Read Morehe Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly. It's said to attract them. Arrowhead Alpines, who sell the plant, note, "One of the high points of last summer was sitting around talking ferns with Dr. Storer, only to have him spot a 5th instar Papilio (Battus) philenor larva come crawling by, an event so unlikely that at first I thought it a joke. I've collected for years and never seen it in this part of Michigan; I figured Herb Wagner must have given him a larva or something. When I went to the garden to find it something to munch on there they were, 1.5” purple black, with magnificent fleshy tentacles like something out of the rainforest, devouring my Aristolochia clematis. We reared and released a couple dozen of the most incredible metallic blue green Pipevine swallowtails, they stayed around the nursery for weeks sipping from our mud puddles each morning but vanishing during the day. “If you grow it they will come,” they sensed the only available food for miles and came here to lay eggs."

Propagation Notes: Seed - best sown in a greenhouse as soon as it is ripe in the autumn. Pre-soak stored seed for 48 hours in hand-hot w...Read Moreater and surface sow in a greenhouse. Germination usually takes place within 1 - 3 months at 20°c. Stored seed germinates better if it is given 3 months cold stratification at 5°c. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for their first winter. Plant out in late spring or early summer after the last expected frosts. Division in autumn. Root cuttings in winter.

A creeping, perennial plant from Southern Europe but widely naturalised in Europe.

Has broad, heart shaped, mid green, ent...Read Moreire (untoothed) leaves upto 6 inches long on erect stems. Bears yellow, tubular with a long flap at the tip flowers which are held in the leaf axils usually 4-8 flowers in each axil.

The whole plant stinks. Sap may irritate skin.

Flowers June-September.

Likes a well drained, fertile soil in sun or partial shade. Dislikes winter wet soil. Creeps by rhizomes where happy.

Its English common name stems from the middle ages when it was used to help birthing contrations. It has also been used in a variety of other herbal concotions but is poisonous and not recommened at all.

Part of the reason it is widely naturalised is due to its previous uses by monks and is often found on old monastery sites. It is not by any means common and is listed as rare in some places.