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Aristolochia sempervirens; photograph yelena_antipova, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF CC BYyelena_antipova, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF

Aristolochia sempervirens L.

Long birthwort

Aristolochiaceae · Albania, Greece +9

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Aristolochia sempervirens, photograph yelena_antipova, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFAristolochia sempervirens, photograph yelena_antipova, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFAristolochia sempervirens, photograph roberto, CC BY-SA, via GBIFAristolochia sempervirens, photograph roberto, CC BY-SA, via GBIFAristolochia sempervirens, photograph Marie-Noëlle Dumaz, CC BY-SA, via GBIFAristolochia sempervirens, photograph zebedeugalinha, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF 24 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
4.3°C
Record low 1.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
773mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
15–50DLI
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
Wet winters: the rain comes November to February, read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Aristolochia sempervirens is a species of perennial plant in the family Aristolochiaceae. It is found in the Eastern and Southern Mediterranean Basin, notably in Crete.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Aristolochia sempervirens", 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 winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (547 mm of 773 mm) falls in November to February, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 12.3 °C against a yearly mean of 17.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: May to August.

Rain

773 mm in the median year at the habitat, 547 mm of it November to February. Wettest month December at 156 mm, driest month August at 2 mm; 2 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 581 mm to 1,115 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 773 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 773 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: 15 to 50 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 12, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 4.3 °C, the absolute minimum 1.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 7.5 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range 2.0 °C to 10.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.3 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 4.3 °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: 56 to 60% 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 -313 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 sempervirens through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low 7.5 °C; 773 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.0°10°20°30°40°50°41.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER1.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 15–50RH 56–60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 140 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 °C13 / 10–1513 / 10–1615 / 12–1818 / 15–2122 / 19–2527 / 23–2929 / 25–3129 / 25–3127 / 23–2923 / 20–2618 / 15–2114 / 11–17
Night °C8 / 2–118 / 2–109 / 4–1212 / 8–1415 / 11–1719 / 15–2121 / 18–2322 / 19–2420 / 17–2217 / 13–1913 / 8–159 / 4–12
Rain mm152 / 94–258119 / 74–19479 / 52–11839 / 24–5818 / 7–365 / 1–123 / 1–72 / 1–1317 / 2–5663 / 29–99120 / 82–177156 / 112–219
DLI17 / 15–1923 / 20–2532 / 29–3340 / 38–4146 / 43–4750 / 48–5148 / 47–5045 / 42–4637 / 33–3927 / 23–2919 / 15–2215 / 12–18
RH %60 / 58–6460 / 58–6359 / 57–6157 / 53–6156 / 51–6256 / 48–6256 / 48–6457 / 51–6459 / 53–6259 / 54–6259 / 54–6360 / 58–64
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 140 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (319 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), 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 1066:3660 (36.675, 3.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 1.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 4.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.7 °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 140 distinct grid cells holding 319 of the 321 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1066:3660 (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 36.50_3.125, lapse-corrected -313 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 103 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.
NativeAlbania, Greece, Kriti, Sicilia, Algeria, Morocco, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Turkey · introduced: France, Sardegna, Spain, Italy · 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 marker32.999, 35.404 · in the densest population, 209 records (53% of those in range)
Kew's description“climbing shrub” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 398 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 319 of them in the land cells it reads, of 321 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 98 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1343 km away. 159 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 77 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 398 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 sempervirens, photograph 1did not loadAristolochia sempervirens, photograph 2did not loadAristolochia sempervirens, photograph 3did not loadAristolochia sempervirens, photograph 4did not loadAristolochia sempervirens, photograph 5did not loadAristolochia sempervirens, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: yelena_antipova, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (2); roberto, CC BY-SA, via GBIF (2); Marie-Noëlle Dumaz, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; zebedeugalinha, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF.

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

Ebenus cretica Ebenus cretica Cretan Silver Bush Photo: CC BY, Chase MatheyEchinops spinosissimus Echinops spinosissimus Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, pavlaki1968Erica sicula Erica sicula Fives Heath Photo: CC BY, Gianmaria BonariPtilostemon chamaepeuce Ptilostemon chamaepeuce Shrubby Knapweed Photo: CC0, author not statedPrasium majus Prasium majus White Hedge-nettle Photo: CC BY, frangpCupressus sempervirens Cupressus sempervirens Italian cypress Photo: CC0, author not stated

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 altissima; Aristolochia sempervirens subsp. altissima; Aristolochia undata; Endodeca sempervirens. (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
Albania, Greece, Kriti +8
Wild records
398 in range · 98 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; 51 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (47 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium, 3 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 36.50_3.125, lapse-corrected -313 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 42 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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