Aristolochia

Northern California endemic representative of the incredible pipevine genus. For those with an interest in evolutionary life history, or who love to bore their friends with biology fun facts there is a lot to love here. The pairing of distinct pipe-shaped flowers and musty odor may be an example of plant life imitating human life, but scientists instead tend to think it has something more to do with attracting fly pollinators through deception, with the confounding curves ensuring enough time spent to ensure a pollen packet pickup. Then there's the fact that this plant provides the sole food source for the pipevine swallowtail butterfly, whose caterpillars use the ingested toxin of the leaves as a defense mechanism. For the less trivia inclined, the elegantly arrowhead shaped leaves and intriguing purple and beige striped flowers are sure to be reward enough.

Andalusian Dutchman's Pipe. Native to Portugal, Spain and hopping across Gibraltar to North Africa, this curious vine with its heart-shaped leaves always gives pause with its small mahogany-purple flowers shaped like trippy little saxophones. We find it nigh unto impossible to walk by without stopping to admire the pixie quirkiness. Comparatively large seed pods follow the flowers.

Quirky little evergreen vine from the Mediterranean that brings delight far out of proportion to the size of its flowers. Small curved pipe-like flowers are a subtle burnished pale flesh on the outside accented by thin reddish lines. The flared pipe bowl is a perky yellow with faint lines in the back of the throat and a rim of umber, delicately whiskered. This was born to infiltrate the small shrubs in the maquis which gives protection from goats or is perfect on its own as a wiry tangled mound sprinkled with flowers in the rock garden.