Aristolochia grandiflora is potentially the largest flower of Guatemala. It grows from a relatively thin vine in the Peten and also high in the mountains of Alta Verapaz. Friends provided us the seeds but we had to plant dozens year after year until it decided to grow at 1,500 meters above sea level around the home/office of FLAAR Mesoamerica.
Today there were two of these giant flowers. I show one here; it’s not full size yet, but close.
This side is pink-green; this is the side in the shade, with no sun shining on it.
If you look on the Internet you see photographs of primarily the open part; but in our garden that does not open. And the flower begins to wilt, rot, and falls off it you touch it (to try to turn it so you can photograph it at a good angle; we will show the older flower in an eventual FLAAR Report on this flower. The one here is young; still has a few days to grow before beginning to wilt.
So far one flower has produced a seed pod, about the size and shape of a small cacao pod.
This side is pink-red color; this is the side facing the sun.
Posted June 23, 2022, by Dr Nicholas Hellmuth
