Aristolochia californica, Pipevine

One of the most distinctive of California’s endemic plants, the California Pipevine or California Dutchman’s Pipe is a deciduous vine with purple-striped, curving pipe-shaped flowers, hence the name. These give rise to star-shaped green fruits.

If given the right conditions, it will flower profusely. After it blooms, the plant sends out new green heart-shaped leaves. The vines grow from rhizomes to a length of over twenty feet and can become quite thick in circumference at maturity. In its natural state, it will spread out over open ground or sprawl over other plants. By fall, it will look pretty dried out and ratty but will revive come rains.

This plant is common in moist woods and along streams in northern and central California, usually below 1,500 ft. The flowers have an unpleasant odor that is attractive to tiny carrion-feeding insects. These 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 once thought. Fungus gnats (Mycetophilidae) may prove to be the effective pollinators.

This plant is the only host plant of the gorgeous Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly. If you can find room for one in your garden, you will be treated to a spectacular display of deep blue butterflies.