Aristolochia

This is the flower of a plant, whose sonorous name is "Aristolochia lindneri". I took the picture in june 2000 in one of the greenhouses of the Botanical garden of the university of Bonn. The plant flatly covered some stony earth between several cacti. Only the flowers stood out of the green of the leaves.

The plants of this genus attract flies or similar animals for pollination. For this reason many species have disgustingly stinking flowers. Other species imitate fungi with their flowers. But the strange shape of the flower on the picture I can't interpret.