Aristolochia maxima (Dutchman's Pipe)

Large vine with simple oblong leaf. Older plants have a tendency to flower in mass at the base of the plant. Such "terrestrial" flowers never set fruit. Countrywide distribution, but appears to prefer limestone-based soils. Larval foodplant for butterflies.

This is a plant which does everything to live up to the name given to it by the botanists. A large vigorous climber with 6-inch rounded leaves and bold clusters of highly distinctive Dutchman's pipe-shaped flowers in highly variable green, white, or brownish-red patterned tones, each inflorescence reaching up to 12 inches in length - and that's a lot of bloom! And that's not all! These are followed by matchingly large seed capsules. A flower arranger's dream, they are about five inches long, big enough almost to be wired for a miniature 40 watt bulb, and, combining suggestions solicited around the office, like a Chinese lantern made of a dried (admittedly only six-legged) octopus skin. A challenge for you and your greenhouse.