| Aristolochia californica | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Magnoliids |
| Order: | Piperales |
| Family: | Aristolochiaceae |
| Genus: | Aristolochia |
| Species: | A. californica |
| Binomial name | |
| Aristolochia californica | |
Aristolochia californica, the California pipevine, California Dutchman's-pipe, or California snakeroot [2] is a perennial woody vine of western North America. [3] [4]
The vine is endemic to northern California. [5] It is native to the Sacramento Valley, northern Sierra Nevada foothills, San Francisco Bay Area, Northern Inner California Coast Ranges, southeastern Klamath Mountains. [3]
The plant grows along riparian streambank areas, in chaparral, oak woodland, and mixed evergreen forest habitats. [3] [5] [6] It is found below 700 metres (2,300 ft) in elevation. [5]
Aristolochia californica is a deciduous vine. [5] It grows from rhizomes, to a length usually around 5 feet (1.5 m), but can reach over 20 feet (6.1 m). [5] The twining trunk can become quite thick in circumference at maturity.
It sends out new green heart-shaped leaves after it blooms. The bloom period is January through April. [3]
The plant produces large, green-to-pale-brown, curving pipe-shaped flowers, with purple veins and a yellow-to-red lining. [5] The U-shaped flowers produce winged capsular green fruits. [5]
The California pipevine's flowers have a musty unpleasant odor which is attractive to tiny carrion-feeding insects. The insects crawl into the convoluted flowers and often become stuck and disoriented for some time, picking up pollen as they wander. Most eventually escape. The plant is not insectivorous, as was formerly thought. Fungus gnats (Mycetophilidae) may prove to be the effective pollinators. G.L. Stebbins suggested that pollination by deceit is presumed. [7]
Like the other members of the family Aristolochiaceae, A. californica is highly toxic, producing a group of secondary metabolites known as aristolochic acids. Aristolochic acids are compounds that are composed of nitrophenanthrene carboxylic acids that have been utilized for medicinal purposes, being used in Chinese herbal medicines and usually included as a part of some weight-loss regimens. [9] However, due to several warnings of the toxic effects of aristolochic acids by the US Food and Drug Administration and regulatory authorities of other countries, the sale and usage of aristolochic acids in medicine has been banned in multiple countries. [10] The reasoning for this is that aristolochic acids act as a carcinogen and a nephrotoxin, inducing urothelial cancers and kidney failure. It has also been found that it may even act as a mutagen. [11]
The larva of the endemic California pipevine swallowtail butterfly (Battus philenor hirsuta) relies on the California pipevine as its only food source. The red-spotted black caterpillars consume the leaves of the plants, and then use the flowers as a secure, enclosed place to undergo metamorphosis. The plant contains a toxin which when ingested by the caterpillars makes them unpalatable to predators. [12]
Due to their unpalatability from the sequestered aristolochic acids from Aristolochiaceae spp., there are several known species of butterflies that use Battus philenor, as an overall species, as a model for Batesian mimicry, including Papilio troilus L., the darker female morph of Papilio glaucus L., and Papilio polyxenes . [13] However, there are no known species that mimic Battus philenor hirsuta specifically in the Northern California region.
The female butterflies tend to lay their eggs as clutches on an individual plant, preferring to lay only one clutch per shoot to ensure that the induced defenses of A. californica do not negatively affect a second clutch of offspring and so that they do not compete with one another. Having one clutch that feeds on the same shoot at the same time allows for a larger number of larvae to feed on the plant while the defenses are lower. It has been found that these clutches of caterpillars take part in aggregative feeding as to manipulate the type and/or size of the plant's induced defense in response to herbivory. [14]
The Aristolochiaceae are a family, the birthwort family, of flowering plants with seven genera and about 400 known species belonging to the order Piperales. The type genus is Aristolochia L.
Papilio glaucus, the eastern tiger swallowtail, is a species of butterfly native to eastern North America. It is one of the most familiar butterflies in the eastern United States, ranging north to southern Ontario, Canada, and is common in many different habitats. It flies from spring until fall, during which it produces two to three broods. Adults feed on the nectar of many species of flowers, mostly from those of the families Apocynaceae, Asteraceae, and Fabaceae. P. glaucus has a wingspan measuring 7.9 to 14 cm. The male is yellow with four black "tiger stripes" on each forewing. Females may be either yellow or black, making them dimorphic. The yellow morph is similar to the male, but with a conspicuous band of blue spots along the hindwing, while the dark morph is almost completely black.
Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the largest butterflies in the world, the birdwing butterflies of the genus Ornithoptera.
Papilio troilus, the spicebush swallowtail or green-clouded butterfly, is a common black swallowtail butterfly found in North America. It has two subspecies, Papilio troilus troilus and Papilio troilus ilioneus, the latter found mainly in the Florida peninsula. The spicebush swallowtail derives its name from its most common host plant, the spicebush, members of the genus Lindera.
Aristolochia is a large plant genus with over 500 species that is the type genus of the family Aristolochiaceae. Its members are commonly known as birthwort, pipevine or Dutchman's pipe and are widespread and occur in the most diverse climates. Some species, like A. utriformis and A. westlandii, are threatened with extinction.
Troidini is a tribe of swallowtail butterflies that consists of some 135 species in 12 genera. Members of this tribe are superlatively large among butterflies and are often strikingly coloured.
Battus is a New World genus of butterflies that are usually found around pipevine plants. The caterpillars feed off the poisonous pipevines, making the insects poisonous themselves; they taste very bad to ward off predators. Since birds avoid these butterflies, other swallowtail species mimic their coloration. The common North American species are Battus polydamas and Battus philenor.
Pachliopta aristolochiae, the common rose, is a swallowtail butterfly belonging to the genus Pachliopta, the roses, or red-bodied swallowtails. It is a common butterfly which is extensively distributed across south and southeast Asia.
Battus philenor, the pipevine swallowtail or blue swallowtail, is a swallowtail butterfly found in North America and Central America. This butterfly is black with iridescent-blue hindwings. They are found in many different habitats, but are most commonly found in forests. Caterpillars are often black or red, and feed on compatible plants of the genus Aristolochia. They are known for sequestering acids from the plants they feed on in order to defend themselves from predators by being poisonous when consumed. The adults feed on the nectar of a variety of flowers. Some species of Aristolochia are toxic to the larvae, typically tropical varieties. While enthusiasts have led citizen efforts to conserve pipevine swallowtails in their neighborhoods on the West coast, the butterfly has not been the subject of a formal program in conservation or protected in legislation. The butterfly is however of "Special Concern" in Michigan, which is on the Northern limit of its range.
Aristolochia littoralis, the calico flower or مورپنکھ بیل or elegant Dutchman's pipe, is a species of evergreen vine belonging to the family Aristolochiaceae.
Aristolochia gigantea, the Brazilian Dutchman's pipe or giant pelican flower, is an ornamental plant native to Brazil. Typical of subtropical Bahia and Minas Gerais vegetation, it is a vigorous evergreen climber (vine) with heart-shaped leaves and spectacular fragrant flowers. This plant is cited in Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius. A. gigantea and other tropical Dutchman's pipe varieties pose a threat to the pipevine swallowtail butterfly. The butterfly confuses A. gigantea with its native host plant and will lay eggs on it although pipevine swallowtail caterpillars cannot survive on the foliage.
Callosamia promethea, commonly known as the promethea silkmoth, is a member of the family Saturniidae, which contains approximately 1,300 species. It is also known as the spicebush silkmoth, which refers to is one of the promethea silkmoth's common host plants, spicebush. C. promethea is classified as a silk moth, which stems from its ability to produce silk, which it does in the formation of its cocoon. C. promethea lives in forests in the eastern U.S. and does not damage the trees on which it lives. The species was first described by Dru Drury in 1773.
Aristolochia grandiflora, the pelican flower, is a deciduous vine with one of the world's largest flowers that emits an odor that smells like rotting meat, attracting flies.
Cressida cressida, the clearwing swallowtail or big greasy, is a Troidine swallowtail butterfly found in northern Australia, New Guinea, Maluku, and Timor. It is in the monotypic genus Cressida.
Parides alopius, the white-dotted cattleheart, is an endemic Mexican butterfly in the family Papilionidae. It has also strayed once into the United States in southeastern Arizona.
Aristolochia chilensis, known locally as orejas de zorro, is a herbaceous perennial plant native to Chile.
Battus philenor hirsuta, the California pipevine swallowtail or hairy pipevine swallowtail, is a subspecies of the pipevine swallowtail that is endemic to Northern California in the United States. The butterfly is black with hindwings that have iridescent green-blue coloring above and a row of red spots below; the caterpillars are black with fleshy protrusions and orange spots. This subspecies is smaller in size, hairier, and lays eggs in larger clutch sizes than the nominate subspecies. The egg clutches are deposited on the shoot tips of the California pipevine, a perennial vine native to riparian, chaparral, and woodland ecosystems of the California Coast Ranges, Sacramento Valley, and Sierra Nevada foothills. The larvae feed exclusively on the foliage and shoot tips of the pipevine, although adults eat floral nectar from a variety of plants. The plant contains a toxic substance, aristolochic acid. The larvae sequester the toxin, and both the juvenile and adult butterflies have high and toxic concentrations of the aristolochic acid in their tissues. Throughout the range of the species, Battus philenor, other butterflies and moths mimic the distinctive coloration of the swallowtail to avoid predators. However, there are no known mimics of the Californian subspecies.
Aristolochia watsonii is a perennial plant in the birthwort family (Aristolochiaceae), found growing among plants of the Arizona Uplands in the Sonoran Desert. The plant is inconspicuous, small and hard to spot, but can be found by following the pipevine swallowtail which lays eggs on it.
Aristolochia macrophylla, Dutchman's pipe or pipevine, is a perennial vine native to the eastern United States. A. macrophylla belongs to the plant family Aristolochiaceae and is found primarily along the Cumberland Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains in the eastern portion of the United States, as well as Ontario, Canada. This species of plant has received considerable attention in the past few decades for the discovery of a potent compound called aristolochic acid, which has been the focus of debate due its harmful side effects.
