Aristolochia serpentaria
Missouriplants.com
Virginia Snakeroot is one
of several species of vines
known as "pipevines." This species grows up to 18 inches
tall and has thin, heart-shaped leaves.
The stems of the plant tend to zig-zag. Virginia Snakeroot grows
in forests
and thickets,
where it has plenty of shade. This plant is also a
perennial,
living for many years. The roots
of Virginia Snakeroot are tough and knotty. It also has
rhizomes,
which are sideways-growing, underground stems that send up
new stems and leaves. Copyright, Eleanor
Saulys
Copyright, Eleanor
Saulys Copyright, Smithsonian
Institution Botany Section, B. Steury Flowers
are long and "pipe-shaped." They are purplish-brown and 3/4
inch long. Virginia Snakeroot blooms from May to July, and
flowers are found very close to the ground. Usually, people
can't see them, because they are hidden in leaf
litter. The
center of the flower is red and resembles raw meat, and
flowers also smell like rotting meat. This smell attracts
flies and other insects. When a fly enters a
flower, stiff hairs inside the flower trap the insect. Since
the hairs point downward, the fly must move in that
direction. Deep inside the flower, the fly gets covered with
pollen.
Then, the hairs relax and the fly is able to escape. The
hairs also relax when pollen from another flower rubs on
them. This way, the plant uses insects to pollinate
itself.
Missouriplants.com
The fruit
of Virginia Snakeroot is round and about 1/2 inch wide. It
contains many seeds.
Because seeds are so close to the ground, they are probably
only eaten by small mammals,
such as mice and chipmunks. Virginia Snakeroot, and
other pipevines, are an important food source for the
Pipevine
Swallowtail. This
butterfly only lays its eggs on pipevines. Caterpillars
eat quickly. One caterpillar may remove the leaves of 25
separate snakeroot plants! Virginia Snakeroot leaves contain
chemicals which make the caterpillars poisonous
to birds and most other predators.
These chemicals stay in the insect when the caterpillar
changes into a butterfly, giving it further
protection. Hugh Wilson
