Download Article 140 Updated List Aristolochia elegans Dutchmans Pipe

Weeds in our Area (Part One Hundred and Forty)
By Bob and Ena McIntyre – Garden Route Region.
UPDATED LIST: Aristolochia elegans (Dutchman's Pipe,
Calico Flower)
The updated list of invasive species certainly provides much food for thought. Continuing with this
theme we've chosen a species which is not necessarily a threat in our area, but rather an
interesting specimen.
When one walks around Wilderness Village the large older gardens along Waterside Road,
Melkhout Lane and Southside bear testimony to their creators' love of plants and their desire to
enhance their personal surrounds evidenced by the large variety of non-indigenous plant species
to be found. This tendency runs true of the older gardens in George and Knysna as well. These
gardens also characterize the competitive edge of gardening as a pastime. For many gardeners the
very special pleasure and challenge lie in sourcing, nurturing and successfully growing something
really unusual. In this way numerous exotic plants arrived on our shores. Many of these
ornamentals today have the status of special effect weeds and have invariably become
problematic invasive alien species. With its very unusual flower the Aristolochia littoralis
(=elegans) (Calico Flower, Dutchman's Pipe) certainly qualifies. In the gardening books of the early
1980's the Calico Flower climber is recommended as suited to the temperate and sub-tropical
regions in the country.
Description: The Dutchman's pipe is an
evergreen vine with a dense coverage of
large, bright green leaves, varying from
heart- to kidney-shaped. The large
heart-shaped flowers are particularly
unusual -both in shape and colour. The
common name Dutchmen's pipe is derived
from the twisted shape of the large
purple-brown flowers that are shaped like
the bowl and stem of a pipe. The bowl of the
pipe has white markings inside, a yellow
throat and yellow markings on the outside.
The winged seeds are borne in dry capsules
that split like small parachutes.
Invasive Status: Leslie Henderson included
the Calico flower in alien Weeds and Invasive
Plants 2001 as being problematic, but not allocated to a specific category at the time. On the
updated list it has been upgraded to a category lb. The plants invade riverine forests and
plantations. In one reference the species A. macrophylla is described as a rampant vine ideal for
situations in which other climbers will not grow. A.eleqans is native to Brazil, and is an invasive
species in the southern United States and Australia where the caterpillars of the threatened
Richmond Birdwing Butterfly die as a result of feeding on the plants, which closely resemble their
regular food source. The Calico Flower climber is poisonous.
References: ALIEN WEEDS AND INVASIVE PLANTS: Lesley Henderson - Copyright @ 2001
Agricultural Research Council. A-Z of Gardening in SA: W G Sheat. www.wikipedia.org