Aristolochia californica

California pipe vine

Family: Aristolochiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

California pipe vine is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern California Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada foothills, Sacramento Valley, northern San Joaquin Valley, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, and northern South Coast Ranges in streamsides, forests, and chaparral at elevations below 700 meters. Flowering from January to April, this plant produces pale brown to green flowers with a musty fragrance, featuring a distinctive U-shaped tube 2 to 4 centimeters long lined with thick yellow to red tissue and purple veins. Growing with soft-hairy twining stems less than 5 meters long, it forms a flexible climbing structure. Its deciduous leaves are large and striking, with ovate-cordate to sagittate blades measuring 3 to 15 centimeters across. The plant produces winged capsule fruits that complete its unique botanical profile.

Habitat: Streamsides, forest, chaparral

Bloom period: Jan-Apr

Elevation: < 700 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaRF, n&ampc SNF, ScV, n SnJV, CCo, SnFrB, n SCoRO.

California counties: Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, Lake, Madera, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter, Yolo, Yuba, Tehama, Alameda, Amador, El Dorado, Lassen, Nevada, Placer, San Mateo, Trinity, Tuolumne, Sacramento, Glenn, Mendocino, Stanislaus, Plumas

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.