Mostly twining woody plants, or upright slender herbaceous, some lianas, some shrubs (some highly-speciallized parasites.), appear in forests and shrubs. sapromyiophil. Cork cambium present.
Distribution
Cosmopolitic. Tropical and warm temperate areas of eurasia and america, large parts of South America.
Floral characters
actinomorph, perfect, calyx is conspicious, purple to purplish-green, petals absend. The 6-celled ovary (rarely 4 or 5) is coherent, at least at the base, the ovary is partly or wholly inferior, rarely superior. Stamens 6 to 36, more or less united with the style. The flowers of all members of this family are bi-sexual (perfect), epigynous, and regular or irregular, with perianth lobes usually in 3's or none. Pollination mechanism conspicuously specialized (via an elaborate system for trapping flies within the perianth tube, involving articulated hairs which subsequently wither to release them).
Leaf characters
Deciduous, alternate, usually broad (often cordate) and entire, with petioles. Epidermis containing silica bodies, or without silica bodies. Stomata present; anomocytic. Minor leaf veins without phloem transfer cells.
Stipules
absent
Fruit characters
capsule, or berry, or nut. Germination phanerocotylar, or cryptocotylar
Glands
present, nectaries or secretory hairs on tube
Hairs
present, uniseriate
Latex
absent
Odor
fruity to fetid, unpleasant, carrion-like smell. Attraction of visitors by imitating environment of carrion like smell.
Uses
Antiseptic, antitumor compound: aristolochic acid. Flavonols present. Promotes sweating, appetite, expecorant, Used for fevers, stomachaches, indigestion, suppressed menses, and snakebites. Irritating in large doses.
Chemical characters
Aristolochic acid. Flavonols present. Quercetin, or kaempferol present. Inulin present.
Distribution maps
(online von http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/ . Dort zitiert wie unter jedem Diagramm vermerkt):
Aristolochiaceae
map: from Poncy 1978; Fl. N. Am. III 1997; de Groot et al. 2006 - S. America?, Australia approximate
Lactoris (Aristolochiaceae)
Chile, the Juan Fernandez Islands (for fossil distribution, see Gamerro & Barreda 2008: brown squares)
