"manchurensis" = "manshuriensis"

You say 'potato'

Sorry I cant help personally. Have you been in touch with Kew Gardens or the RHS to see what they ahve available?

Aristilochia plants seem to be freely available as ornamental garden plants here in Italy, although I have never seen them myself. I am assuming that these are likely to be the non-toxic varieties rather than the ones you are referring to. They are additionally described as "natural medicines used in the treatment of amenorrhea and female problems." I have yet to come across anything that mentions their renal failure associations, which is a tad worrying. How well regulated is Chinese "natural" medicine? Is A. acid an alkaloid?

Thanks Seaburngirl. Yes, I've emailed a contact at Kew to see what they might have.

Gattina. All Aristolochia contain AA but that's only a problem if you eat them.

The plant itself can take a long time to cause problems. In the Balkans, it took 10 to 15 years for people to get kidney failure when the didn't realise the plant grew in the wheat fields and the seeds ended up in flour.

What an interesting subject. I tried googling it (which no doubt you did anyway) and somehow ended up on a Chilean website showing all of its flora. I had no idea many of the flowers we plant are from Chile. The Aristolchia types are very sinister looking plants.

It's fascinating. I used to work at the Chester Beattie Cancer research Foundation back in the sixties, doing research on the carcinogenetic properties of mustard gas and associated compounds. Other properties, such as toxicity rather got in the way of the carcinogenic ones. Not nice, but useful.

Thanks, Cammomile. All I could find were close-ups of leaves or flowers. It's the full plant that's really wanted.

Thanks, everyone. I found an 18th century drawing that is just labelled Aristolochia but looks like manshuriensis.