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Aristolochia indica
Also called Indian Dutchman's Pipe
Aristolochia indica is a woody climbing vine from southern India and Sri Lanka that clambers over trees and rocks and forms thick foliage. It is grown mainly as a host plant for birdwing butterflies rather than as an ornamental.
Aristolochia indica (native language: Garudakkodi / Eswaramooli) is a creeper plant found in Southern India and also Sri Lanka. It Is known as 'sapsada' in Sri Lanka and is critical to the survival of the southern birdwing and common birdwing, as well as crimson and common rose butterflies. It reaches a height of several metres on trees and cover the branches with thick foliage. It is commonly found in forest floor, rocky hillslopes. It flowers once a year to produce seeds. It can also be propagated by roots. The plant has a number of historical medicinal uses.
This plant contains aristolochic acid, a carcinogen also found in various Aristolochia and Asarum plants, both in the family Aristolochiaceae. Aristolochic acid is composed of an about 1:1 mixture of two forms, aristolochic acid I and aristolochic acid II.
In addition to its carcinogenicity, aristolochic acid is also highly nephrotoxic and may be a causative agent in Balkan nephropathy. However, despite these well-documented dangers, aristolochic acid still is present sometimes in herbal remedies (such as for weight loss), primarily because of substitution of innocuous herbs with Aristolochia species. The alcoholic extract is more toxic than the water extract.
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 · Birthwort
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Aristolochia indica 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.
