Lady McNeice’s flowering Aristolochia grandiflora

Aristolochias are not plants that you can see easily in Singapore. Aristolochia tagala is perhaps the only species that can be bought locally from certain nurseries. This particular species is grown as it is sought after by people who have butterfly gardens. Most of the other Aristolochia species are very rare and hard to come by. 

Chong Ren standing next to the flower of A. grandiflora. The flower is larger than his face! 

Recently, I came to learn that Lady McNeice is the only person in Singapore who grows this genus of flowering vines. Not many people here would be fond of the flowers of Aristolochia because of their strange appearance, foul smell they emit and their ability to attract flies which are their natural pollinators. Lady McNeice has been insightful and she has taught me how to appreciate the unique and beautiful batik pattern found on the perianth of Aristolochia flowers. The shape of the flower buds are also quite intriguing and different from all others I have seen in flowering plants.

A flower bud that looks like a nautilus shell. It has reached its maturity and is expected to bloom within the next few days.

On Sunday, Lady McNeice invited me to visit her garden to witness the flowering of her A. grandiflora. The plant was raised from seeds. From its specific name ‘grandiflora’, I was expecting to see exceptionally large flowers and I was not disappointed. The only flower that was fully open during my visit was larger than a human’s face. Chong Ren who accompanied me during this visit was surprised to see the sheer size of the flower that was hanging before his eyes. The flower has a characteristic long ‘tail’that can be longer than 60 cm!

Aristolochia grandiflora is herbaceous vine with heart-shaped leaves that is native to lowlands of Mexico to Panama and the West Indies. Due to the appearance of its opened flowers, it is known commonly as the Pelican Flower. It is sometimes also called the Duck Flower because of the shape of its buds. When I first saw the buds which were hanging from the trellis, I thought they resemble more like the nautilus.

A young, green coloured flower bud (left) and a developing fruit of A. grandiflora (right).

The flower buds of A. grandiflora open early in the morning and the flowers only last for roughly 12 hours. The opened flower has a brownish-purple background that is covered with a complicated network of white veins which radiate outwards from the central, intensely dark purple throat towards the edge of the lobe. Several flowers need to be open at any one time so that cross-pollination can take place.

When I first stepped into the garden, I was not able to detect any foul smell that was supposed to be emitted by the flower. I thought that was strange. Before Chong Ren and I left Lady McNeice’s residence, I spent some time taking pictures of the flowers, buds and seed pod which have been put up on this blog post. 

It was then I was able to smell the strong odour of the flower. Perhaps I came close enough with the opened flower and that was no breeze to blow the smell away. Upclose, I was able to see a handful of houseflies buzzing around the flower and it was rather amusing to see them crawling around and into the flower’s throat!