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Aristolochia socorroensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Magnoliids
Order:	Piperales
Family:	Aristolochiaceae
Genus:	Aristolochia
Species:	A. socorroensis
Binomial name
Aristolochia socorroensis Pfeifer

Aristolochia socorroensis is an island endemic species from the Mexican Socorro Island, one of the Pacific Revillagigedo Islands. It is a species of pipevine in the birthwort family.

Description

Aristolochia socorroensis is a perennial plant that grows herbaceous stems that trail along the ground without rooting. Its leaves are hastate, shaped like an arrow head with the the two lobes at the base pointing outward. The tip of the leaf is strongly pointed while the base is deeply indented like the top of a heart shape while the leaf edges are smooth. Each leaf measures from 3 to 5 centimeters long and 1.5 to 4 cm in width. They are green in color and strigulose, covered in short, stiff hairs that lay down on the surface of the leaf. Their undersides are more pale with short, stiff hairs that stand up. They are attached to the plant by by petioles, short leaf stems 1 to 1.5 cm long.

Each flower is solitary and found in the leaf axils, just above the joint where the petiole attaches to the main stem. The flower is a narrow tube coming to a drawn out point that is green and covered in brown speckles on the inside. The tube of the flower is straight and just 6 to 8 millimeters long and 1.5 mm in diameter. The flowers have five stigmas and five anthers within the tube of the flower.

The fruit is a sausage shaped capsule 2.75 cm long and 1.75 cm wide and five internal cells. The numerous seeds are black, triangular, about 5 mm wide, but just 1 mm thick.

Taxonomy

Aristolochia socorroensis was named and scientifically described by Howard William Pfeifer in 1970. It is classified in the genus Aristolochia in family Aristolochiaceae. It has no botanical synonyms, subspecies, or varieties. Though collected by previous expeditions to the island as early as 1890 it had not been recognized as a species and been recorded as Aristolochia brevipies, a mainland Mexican species.

Range and habitat

This species is endemic to Socorro Island in the Pacific Ocean to the west of Mexico. They have been observed at elevations from 14 to 800 meters on the island.

It grows in thickets of the shrub Croton masonii, along sea bluffs, and upper beaches.

Citations

1. Pfeifer 1970, p. 82.
2. ^ Santana-Michel & Cuevas Guzmán 2013, p. 21.
3. Pfeifer 1970, pp. 82–83.
4. ^ Pfeifer 1970, p. 83.
5. Levin & Moran 1989, p. 24.
6. POWO 2025.
7. ^ Levin & Moran 1989, p. 26.
8. Levin & Moran 1989, p. 18.
9. ^ Santana-Michel & Cuevas Guzmán 2013, p. 24.

References

Books

• Levin, Geoffrey Arthur; Moran, Reid (1989). The Vascular Flora of Isla Socorro, Mexico (PDF). Memoirs of the San Diego Society of Natural History, 16. San Diego, California: San Diego Society of Natural History. OCLC 20433027. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 January 2025. Retrieved 20 January 2025.
• Pfeifer, Howard William (1970). A Taxonomic Revision of the Pentandrous Species of Aristolochia. University of Connecticut publications (in English and Latin). Storrs, Connecticut: University of Connecticut. OCLC 206928. Retrieved 18 January 2025.

Journals

• Santana-Michel, Francisco; Cuevas Guzmán, Ramón (2013). "Diversidad y distribución de Aristolochia (Aristolochiaceae) en el estado de Colima, México" [Diversity and distribution of Aristolochia (Aristolochiaceae) in the state of Colima, Mexico]. Ibugana: Boletín del Instituto de Botánica [Ibugana: Bulletin of the Institute of Botany] (in Spanish). 5: 95–132. ISSN 0187-7054. Retrieved 18 January 2025.

Web sources

• "Aristolochia socorroensis Pfeifer". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 18 January 2025.

• Aristolochia
• Endemic flora of the Revillagigedo Islands