Aristolochia indica

Aristolochia indica is a thin perennial creeper with a woody rootstock and beautiful flowers. 
This twining climber has slender branchlets and can grow up to 8 m long.

The stem of Aristolochia indica are twinning and the branchlets are slender. 
The stems are smooth, green-white in colour.

The leaves of Aristolochia indica are simple, growing in an alternate arrangement. 
They are 3.5 to 8 cm long and 2 to 3.5 cm wide. 
They are ovate or ovate-oblong in shape. 
The leaf margin is entire, more or less undulated. 
The base is somewhat cordate, acuminate or obovate, the tip is pointed to tapering. 
The leaves are hairless, with 3 to 5 nerves at the base. 
The leaf stalk can be up to 2.5 cm long.

The flowers of Aristolochia indica are grey-green in colour, with a light purple perianth. 
They are borne in axillary cymes or fascicles. 
They are 1 to 2 lipped, hairy within dilated limbs which are about 2.5 cm long. 
The limbs are linear-oblong, rounded at the tip. The bracts are small and lance-shaped. 
The flower tube is dull brown in colour, about 1.5 cm long. The bulbous base is green. 
There are 6 stamens. The anthers are adnate to the column and the carpel is 6 locular with 2 ovules. 
The flower stalks are less than 1 cm long. 
The flowers are usually foetid in odour.

The fruit of Aristolochia indica is a globose capsule. 
The capsule is oblong, septicidal, 6-valved, and it is opening from below upwards. 
The capsule is 1.5 to 3 cm long and 1.5 to 2 cm wide. 
The fruit is splitting from the base and looks like a parachute after opening.

The seeds of Aristolochia indica are many in number, flat and winged. 
They are less than 6 mm across, broadly deltoid in shape.