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Aristolochia indica; photograph Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF CC BYRavuri Krishna Chaitanya, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF

Aristolochia indica L.

Indian birthwort; Indian Dutchman's pipe

Aristolochiaceae · Assam, Bangladesh +6

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Aristolochia indica, photograph Paulmathi Vinod, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFAristolochia indica, photograph renjus box, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFAristolochia indica, photograph Sindhu Haridas, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFAristolochia indica, photograph Sindhu Haridas, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFAristolochia indica, photograph Sindhu Haridas, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFAristolochia indica, photograph vaazhaikumar, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF 24 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
11.8°C
Record low 8.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
35°C
Apr at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,045mm
8 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–43DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A rainy season, June to October, neither the cool nor the warm half of the year. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

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. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Aristolochia indica", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Aristolochia

Aristolochia is a large plant genus with over 500 species that is the type genus of the family Aristolochiaceae. Its members are commonly known as birthwort, pipevine or Dutchman's pipe and are widespread and occur in diverse climates. Some species, like A. utriformis and A. westlandii, are threatened with extinction.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Aristolochia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a rainy season with no name: 70% of the median year's rain (885 mm of 1,128 mm) falls in June to October, whose mean temperature, 26.3 °C, is within half a degree of the year's, 25.9 °C, so it is neither the cooler nor the warmer part of the year. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Rain

1,128 mm in the median year at the habitat, 885 mm of it June to October. Wettest month August at 210 mm, driest month February at 7 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 818 mm to 3,161 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,045 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,128 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 11.8 °C, the absolute minimum 8.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 16.1 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 12.8 °C to 22.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 35.0 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 11.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 51 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -41 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Aristolochia indica through the yearWarmest month April, mean daily high 35 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 16.1 °C; 1,128 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.5°10°15°20°25°30°35°40°38.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER8.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 27–43RH 51–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 87 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C28 / 25–3131 / 28–3334 / 30–3535 / 30–3734 / 30–3831 / 28–3529 / 27–3228 / 26–3129 / 27–3129 / 27–3128 / 26–3027 / 25–30
Night °C16 / 13–2218 / 16–2321 / 18–2424 / 21–2626 / 21–2724 / 21–2723 / 20–2623 / 20–2623 / 19–2522 / 19–2419 / 17–2316 / 14–22
Rain mm8 / 2–197 / 2–3020 / 7–5149 / 14–138101 / 25–263133 / 63–710200 / 78–682210 / 91–447181 / 108–320161 / 87–32847 / 19–18111 / 5–60
DLI33 / 30–3739 / 34–4142 / 40–4443 / 38–4541 / 32–4432 / 26–3527 / 24–3227 / 24–3331 / 27–3531 / 29–3330 / 28–3231 / 28–34
RH %55 / 52–6153 / 48–5951 / 46–6053 / 46–6458 / 46–6663 / 54–7065 / 59–7266 / 60–7164 / 60–6962 / 58–6860 / 54–6657 / 51–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 87 grid cells holding the 122 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1552:5129 (12.375, 76.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 8.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 11.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 87 distinct grid cells holding 122 of the 122 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1552:5129 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 12.50_76.250, lapse-corrected -41 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 784 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAssam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Myanmar · introduced: Northern Territory · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker12.895, 77.594 · in the densest population, 46 records (31% of those in range)
Kew's description“climber” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 147 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 122 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 62 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 20 km away. 15 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 25 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 147 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Aristolochia indica, photograph 1did not loadAristolochia indica, photograph 2did not loadAristolochia indica, photograph 3did not loadAristolochia indica, photograph 4did not loadAristolochia indica, photograph 5did not loadAristolochia indica, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Paulmathi Vinod, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; renjus box, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; Sindhu Haridas, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (3); vaazhaikumar, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Vincetoxicum indicum Vincetoxicum indicum Indian Ipecac Photo: CC0, Haneesh K MWrightia tinctoria Wrightia tinctoria Pala indigo Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna ChaitanyaVachellia leucophloea Vachellia leucophloea Distiller's acacia Photo: CC BY, Shikha SreenivasCrossandra infundibuliformis Crossandra infundibuliformis Firecracker-flower Photo: CC BY, Fathima Nishana KPAilanthus excelsa Ailanthus excelsa Plant of heaven Photo: CC BY, harrierNaringi crenulata Naringi crenulata Hesperethusa Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya

Other Aristolochia 77 in the reference

Aristolochia acuminata Aristolochia acuminata Indian birthwort Photo: CC BY, Cheongweei GanAristolochia anguicida Aristolochia anguicida Harlequin dutchman's pipe Photo: CC BY, Skjold SøndergaardAristolochia arborea Aristolochia arborea Aristolochiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Kurt StüberAristolochia arcuata Aristolochia arcuata Aristolochiaceae Photo: CC BY, Celso Henrique Varela RiosAristolochia argentina Aristolochia argentina Aristolochiaceae Photo: CC BY, Tomás TamagnoAristolochia australopithecurus Aristolochia australopithecurus Cairns Birdwing Butterfly plant Photo: CC0, Poyt448 Peter WoodardAristolochia baetica Aristolochia baetica Andalusian Dutchman's Pipe Photo: CC0, Alison Westwood Aristolochia bidoupensis Aristolochiaceae Aristolochia bottae Botta's birthwort Aristolochia bracteolata Aristolochia bracteolata Aristolochiaceae Photo: CC0, Jaya Rakesh Aristolochia caulialata Aristolochiaceae Aristolochia cauliflora Aristolochia cauliflora Aristolochiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Danny S. all 78 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Aristolochia indica var. lanceolata; Aristolochia indica var. magna; Aristolochia indica var. oxyphylla; Aristolochia lanceolata; Aristolochia maysorensis and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Registers not checked Wikidata did not answer when this page was built, so the links it gives (POWO, IPNI, World Flora Online, Wikipedia) were not checked; any shown here are kept from an earlier build. Not asked, or not answered, is not "none": nothing here claims there is none. Why the site says it this way.
GBIFWikipedia

The record

Family
Aristolochiaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya +5
Wild records
147 in range · 62 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 12.50_76.250, lapse-corrected -41 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata failedasked 2026-10-21query.wikidata.org timeout (batched: Wikidata's query service, 200 GBIF keys)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 24 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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