ARISTOLOCHIACEAE
Morphological description
Woody, climbing; exstipulate.
Leaves
Leaves simple, spiral; leaves usually entire, venation palmate, petiole without abscission zone.
Flowers
Flowers bisexual; zygomorphic, actinomorphic in Thottea; calyx petaloid, corolla + disk absent, stamens 6, ovary inferior, placentation parietal, ovules usually many.
Fruits
Fruit capsular.
Different from: Menispermaceae: petiole with abscission zone; flowers small, unisexual, actinomorphic.
Distribution: The family worldwide. In Malesia only: - Aristolochia (worldwide), climbers, lowland rain forest and monsoon forest; - Thottea (SE Asia, Malesia), mostly shrubs, lowland rain forest.
Notes: Several species, mostly introduced, are planted as ornamentals. Many native species are host plants for commercially kept butterflies.
Literature: Ding Hou, Fl. Males. I, 10 (1984) 53-108.
Spot characters (Van Balgooy): Monomorphic/zygomorphic flowers; inferior ovary: all taxa 79, 92 – Climbers without hooks or tendrils: Aristolochia – Swollen nodes: Thottea - Winged stems: Aristolochia crassinervia - Crushed flower with foul or foetid smell: Aristolochia – Triplinerved leaves: Aristolochia, Thottea (p.p.) – Trimerous dicots: e.g., Thottea – Numerous stamens: Thottea – Ridged fruits: Thottea (p.p.) – Winged seeds: Aristolochia – Ruminate endosperm: Thottea.
Illustrations: Fig. 21. Aristolochia decandra Ding Hou (Aristolochiaceae). a. Leafy twig; b. young bud and open flower; c. LS of lower part of perianth showing the gynostemium inside the utricle and the base of the tube slightly elongating and projecting into the utricular cavity; d. gynostemium, enlarged. Reproduced from Flora Malesiana I, 10 (1984) 101, fig. 15a-d. a b c d 41.
Image in PhytoImages for Aristolochiaceae