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Aristolochia clematitis
Also called European birthwort, Heartwort
European birthwort is a twining, scrambling perennial that climbs over neighbouring plants to reach light, with heart-shaped leaves and pale yellow tubular flowers. It is grown mainly as a curiosity, and its key point is that it is poisonous.
Aristolochia clematitis, or European birthwort, is a twining herbaceous plant in the family Aristolochiaceae, which is native to most of central and southern Europe and parts of western Asia, and naturalised further north in Europe.
Formerly used to assist parturition, hence its name, it is now thought to be the cause of thousands of kidney failure cases in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. The initial hypothesis that seeds from the plant were unintentionally consumed through contaminated flour has come to be questioned. Urinary tract malignancies among those who have consumed the plant are also reported. The link between kidney failure and aristolochic acid, which the plant contains, was discovered after a clinic for obesity in Belgium used herbal products based on another plant of the same genus as a diuretic. After a few months, some of the patients experienced kidney failure.
Indian birthwort · Aristolochia amara · Aristolochia argentina · Cairns Birdwing Butterfly Plant · Andalusian Dutchman's Pipe · Aristolochia boosii · Aristolochia bracteolata · Aristolochia cauliflora · Aristolochia ceropegioides · Aristolochia chalmersii · Aristolochia chilensis · Aristolochia clusii
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Aristolochia clematitis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
