So cool! Hope you find out what it is. =)

It's a Swan-flower pipevine bloom so naturally the flower looks like a pitcher plant flower.

The only reason I know about it is because I was at a country cemetery on the far south side of San Antonio and saw a pipevine swallowtail caterpillar frantically crawling along the ground. There was not a pipevine in sight, just a mown meadow. I had my camera so posted a picture of the cat on one of the forums asking what in the world it could be eating and was introduced to this unusual member of the pipevine family.

The foliage is grasslike so is hard to spot. It's a very small plant so the caterpillar has to crawl along the ground from plant to plant to subsist. I've looked and looked for it on later visits to the old family cemetery near Kicaster and could not find it.

How very interesting that you have it growing at your place and happened to see the flowers :-) I had the impression it liked the more sandy soils south of S. A..

Wow! Build a little fence around it ... LOL.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aristolochia longiflora ...

Thank you Roselee, that is definitely it. Not only an id, but a great story to go with it. Maybe we'll get more swallowtails here with this attraction. I'll share this with the butterfly lovers on the other forums I visit.

With the rain and cooler weather this has been a good year to see unique plants around here. That patch of Buffalo Grass plays host to wildflowers and we only mow it once a year in the fall so the plant will be fine. The original owners of this house had topsoil brought in for the Buffalo Grass so that may explain how it took hold way up north here.

Shirley

I'll just assume that Aristolochia longiflora and Aritstolochia erecta are the same species, since they look exactly alike and both are called Swan Flower. Lordy, I wish those people would stop changing botanical names around! Anyway, I have a couple of those A. erecta plants. I know it grows in S.A. and the Hill Country areas...and other places in Texas. If not blooming or in fruit, you'd have to follow the female Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly around for quite a while to find the plant.

Here is a link that might be useful: Swan Flower

How cool, sounds like a lucky find!

Linda, have you tried collecting the seed or are there any tips? I have a request to trade seeds already. Those pods look pretty large but I don't have a lot of experience collecting seed.

I did get down in the grass to look and those stems blend right in. Since these are in bloom I also checked a field behind the house, but no luck so far.

I would love to trade some seeds. I have aristolochia fimbriata growing at my place that the same dutchmans pipe swallow tails like.. I love these plants.----Mara

Hi Mara,

I'll put you on the list if seeds are available. There are several plants out there so there's a good chance for seeds.

Do you have any experience with collecting the seeds? I haven't done a lot of seed collecting so I could use some tips.

The Wildflower Database says it's a perennial so it should return from the roots and keep spreading. We let that area stay natural most of the time and I have been collecting wildflower seeds and throwing them out there.

Shirley

Well, when it forms a pod, you might take something...like a cut-off piece from the foot end of a pantyhose or a knee-high hose and slip it over the pod. And gently tie it onto the stem, so later when the pod is ripe and starts to open and scatter seeds, you'll have them.

Thanks Linda, a definite concern was that I would get the seeds too soon or too late. That idea works and it would make for interesting conversation with guests.

That's why I started doing that...kept going to look at a plant and...too late, seeds gone!