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Many people indeed know this plant at least by its name but have you ever wondered what it was named after? Well, do not think it has anything to do with love or any other carnal feeling, as it should indeed be written Passion flower for it relates to the very Passion of Christ. Here are a few things concerning those stunning plants.
Let us travel back through time and space until we reach Rome in 1609. At this time a monastic scholar by the name of Jacomo Bosio was working on a treaty about the Cross of Calvary when an Augustan friar named Emmanuel de Villegas, coming back from Mexico showed Bosio drawings of a "stupendously marvelous" flower growing in the New World. Bosio studied the drawings and was stunned in recognizing the various tools of the Passion: the corona (threads inside the flower) representing of course the crown of thorns, the three stigmas were the three nails, the tendrils matched the cords which attached the Lord, the five petals and five sepals were the ten apostles, Peter and Judas being absent. He also observed that the flowers took time to build and then remained open for just one day, concluding that God would allow only the most attentive and worthy ones to see such marvels. This is where the plant took its name and the fruit coming from it obviously had to be Passion fruit. Those various symbols have been further used by Spanish missionaries to explain the mysteries of the Passion to the people of Latin America, adding a few symbols on the way like five lobed leaves soon becoming the hands of the mourners and the nectar drops sometimes present would be blood from the holly wounds.
Now, from a less passionate point of view let us get a closer look to those wonderful plants. The genus Passiflora belongs to the Passifloraceae family together with 17 other genuses of much less known plants. The genus Passiflora itself is subdivided in 24 sub-genuses with a total of 465 recorded species. 95% of those species originate in America, mostly Central and South, with two species from North America, P. incarnata (May Pops or May Apple) being the best known. A few species occur in Australia and South-Eastern Asia, none in Africa or Europe. Regarding Africa, though the genus Passiflora is absent, other lesser known genus of the family are present such as Adenia, Dilkea, Ancistrothyrsus, Adenia being probably the best known by caudiciform enthusiasts. Amongst those many species some twenty produce edible fruits though only three are commercially grown on large scale, Passiflora edulis (purple passion fruit or purple granadilla), P.edulis flavicarpa (yellow passion fruit) and P.ligularis (sweet granadilla). More and more are nowadays sold in garden-centers and nurseries for ornamental uses as they display wonderfully coloured flowers, some being also perfumed. Hybridization is quite easy to perform and has given raise to many ornamental hybrids with the added interest of using hardy species (such as P.incarnata) crossed with colourful tropical species to produce spectacular plants able to withstand non-tropical weather.
Passionflowers can be grown outside in suitable climates, requiring well drained soils, sandy ones being perfect as the roots will not live long in compact and soggy soils. They can also grow indoor provided they get enough light and atmospheric humidity, air dryness being quite bad for any tropical plants. You can easily use seeds from passion fruits bought in local stores though result is not guaranteed if they come from hybrids or selected plants which are to be propagated by cuttings or grafting.
About Jean-Jacques Segalen
I am a Parisian born professional horticulturist specialized in tropical seeds producing, set on Reunion island (just between Mauritius and Madagascar) 17 years ago. I spend a lot of time gathering seeds in the wild, the ones I do not grow that is. Also a dedicated Tai-Chi practitioner and tree climber!
Posted by cuqui (from Port Saint Lucie, FL) on April 19, 2008 at 6:34 PM:
THIS IS VERY INFORMATIVE. THE FLOWERS ARE BEAUTIFUL.
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on April 20, 2008 at 8:16 AM:
Thank you. Indeed those flowers are gorgeous and rather easy to grow, if you are in Florida try to visit butterfly's world, they have a huge collection of passionflowers.
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Subject: Passionflowers
Posted by mamoriah (from Maitland, FL) on April 15, 2008 at 11:05 AM:
Lovely article, and Passion DOES have everything to do with AGAPE love; however, you did not mention any fragrance. The ones I have seen in the woods behind my house in Orlando smell wonderful!
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on April 15, 2008 at 12:33 PM:
Hum, you are right, I said nothing about fragrance but this is not the main feature of passionflowers...we have P.ligularis here which is quite nicely perfumed, what are those species in the woods?
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Posted by mamoriah (from Maitland, FL) on April 22, 2008 at 9:57 AM:
Fragrance in flowers is a huge bonus to me, but I am too botanically challenged to know which ones are in the woods. Sorry.
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Posted by ghgeiger (from Tallahassee, FL) on April 28, 2008 at 2:38 PM:
It is most likely Passiflora incarnata. I have seen this growing wild in both Gainesville, FL and Tallahassee, FL.
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on April 28, 2008 at 11:40 PM:
Yes, P.incarnata originates from the USA and will grow from FL to Connecticut as it is rather hardy. So it makes also a good choice for hybridizing with tropical species and creating a cold tolerant one.
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Subject: Has everything to do with love
Posted by joannmaples (from Pensacola, FL) on April 15, 2008 at 10:20 AM:
I think the Passion flower has everything to do with love. The love Christ had for the Father in complete abandonment to His will. The love Christ has for us in being offered up as the only pleasing sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Emmanuel de Villegas was not an Augustan friar, but an Augustinian friar (just a little misspelling.)
I enjoyed your article and have loved this special flower since I was a child growing up in New Orleans. JCM
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on April 15, 2008 at 12:38 PM:
Thanks for correcting Augustan to Augustinian, I am not very literate when it comes to historical religious matters and I only learnt English at school (and on the road!)
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Subject: Very Informative!
Posted by TBGDN (from Macy, IN) on April 14, 2008 at 5:07 PM:
Thanks for a great article. I appreciate all the detailed information.
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on April 15, 2008 at 4:03 AM:
Thanks for the feed-back, I tried to give enough details to be informative but not too many as botany can be boring for the non-specialists.
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Subject: love your article and passion flowers
Posted by inezscion (from Ocala, FL) on April 14, 2008 at 1:48 PM:
I wasn't aware of the faith representation of the name. Great to know. Would you identify the species of the passion flowers pictured?--Please!
Thanks for your info,
Inez
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on April 15, 2008 at 12:49 PM:
Hi,
Here we go; the first picture on the left is Passiflora amethystina, the one on the right is P. 'Pura Vida' and hybrid of P. kewensis 'Amethyst' and P. racemosa. The next one is P.maliformis (found in the wild on Reunion) then the red one is P. miniata, formerly known as P.coccinea, then we have P.actinia and the small yellow thing is P.citrina.
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Subject: Thanks!
Posted by kithas (from Humble, TX) on April 14, 2008 at 1:27 PM:
I didn't realize how many varieties there were. I grow PF-incensa for butterflies It's one of my favorite plants in a pot. In the ground is another matter. I've got shoots coming up 15 feet away from the base of my old plant, and it takes constant vigil to pull them up. Combined with pentas and milkweeds I'm loaded up with butterflies...
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on April 15, 2008 at 12:36 PM:
Oh, there are probably even more than that as botanists who go to the Amazonian area keep finding new species and there must be some disappearing with logging! Passiflora 'Incense' is an hybrid of P. incarnata and P. cincinnata and P.incarnata is notorious for producing shoots and runners, the more you prune it the more it will pop out of the ground!
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Subject: Wow I wan´t to leave there too
Posted by abuebebari (from mexicocity
(Mexico)) on April 13, 2008 at 8:52 PM:
Hi Jean. Jacques:
I am Vron Mexico City and I just want to say thank you for your acricle but also I wanna say
I WANNA LEAVE THERE TOO It looks like paradise. I send you a flower form my green garden
Have fun .
Cecy
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on April 14, 2008 at 9:38 AM:
Hola Ceci,
Ok, you are welcome anytime;)) Yo fue en Mexico hace años y me gusto muchissimo!
Jean-Jacques
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Subject: Wonderful article... Printing this one
Posted by jlp222 (from Hammond, LA) on April 13, 2008 at 2:00 AM:
Thank you for the well written, informative article. I have a neighbor who is devout Christian and is intrigied by the biblical inferences associated with passionflowers. I will be printing this article for her.
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on April 13, 2008 at 7:22 AM:
Thanks for your positive response to my article. Please let your neighbor understand that those references were artificially raised by Spanish evangelists and to my knowledge nothing in the Bible could be found about those plants, they were totally unknown at the time of the holly book.
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Posted by beckygardener (from (Becky) in Sebastian, FL) on April 13, 2008 at 8:37 AM:
Good article! I enjoyed it and you are right ... the vines prefer sandy, drier soil! I have an east fence just covered with the P.edulis flavicarpa (yellow passion fruit) vines! I had lots of blooms and fruit last year. I love them!
Many of the Passiflora vine varieties (though not all) are also host plants for the Fritillary and Zebra Longwing Butterflies (caterpillars), so they are a nice addition to a Butterfly garden! (Which is why I grow them!)
Thank you again for the wonderful article and spotlight on the Passiflora vines!
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on April 13, 2008 at 10:43 AM:
Well, thank you Becky! I also like a lot flavicarpa's fruits they have a nicer taste than regular edulis, we use the juice for punch (Reunion's main crop is sugarcane hence rhum is regular drink....). I am working on another article on passionflowers but dedicated to hybridization of those wonderful plants, a rather easy and fantasticaly rewarding activity for any gardener!
PS; to bad I spaced out with the text editor, the picture of Passiflora citrina only shows a tiny bit, I will do better next time!
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Posted by MySharona (from Fernandina Beach, FL) on April 13, 2008 at 11:37 AM:
Thank you for this article! My family and I enjoyed it. I enjoy learning all I can about the plants I have and look forward to your next article.
It's a good thing PF's like sandy soil because that's about all I have! I have a Passiflora Lady Margaret which produces lot of fruit. I have not had any lucky propagating from seed, cuttings I can handle. I also have P. Edulis and P. Caerulea, but they are pretty young and have not produced fruit (yet)!
Thanks again! Sharon
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Posted by Horseshoe (from Efland, NC) on April 13, 2008 at 2:44 PM:
Wonderful write-up, jjacques. PF's are my most favorite wildflower, often referred to as a "weed" here by others (incarnata grows wild all over our farm).
Your home turf sounds like a fantasy land to me. Will be watching for more articles by you!
Best,
Shoe
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Posted by AnalogDog (from Mountlake Terrace, WA) on April 13, 2008 at 10:36 PM:
I have a Passionflower that lives on a trellis outside my house. It has the most amazing blooms. Here the soil is anything but easy draining. It must be a miracle that is it staying alive in the this area. Thanks for the history, I never would have guessed it had Christian roots.
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on April 14, 2008 at 9:46 AM:
Wowowo! Thanks everybody! Passies are easy to grow provided you have the right soil and climate, then they can easily turn to weed, actually quite a few are listed are pantropical weeds. They also do fine indoors so everyone can try his chance!
AnalogDog, I guess WA stand for Washington? If so you probably grow either P.caerulea or P.incarnata which are both hardy from the fleshy roots, it may also be a hardy hybrid as enthusiasts in USA and Europe have been very active creating all kinds of fantastic hybrids those last years.
JJ
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Posted by quiltygirl (from Wildomar, CA) on April 15, 2008 at 7:11 PM:
Really enjoyed article AND everyone's comments. I have 2 of the vines I planted last year and they are REALLY getting thick. Unless I go in behind the anti-rabbit fence and force them to climb upward, they grow down and try to choke the other plants. I did not know fruit grows from this vine - all varieties? I will need to better secure the trellis! We have lots of sandy soil. I could plant some on the chain link fence to cover that eyesore - do they do well with wind? We get only a few freezing nights in winter is that OK? Do you root cuttings in water first or use rooting hormone & place into soil? Do the butterflies breed IN the vines?
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on April 16, 2008 at 12:09 AM:
Hi Quilty,
Yes, so far it seems everybody has enjoyed it and this pleases more than you can tell! Indeed passionflowers are fast growers but never feed them heavily with potash, they would grow masses of stems and leaves but no flowers. Regarding fruits all species (and some hybrids) do produce fruits but all are not edible though to my knowledge only one is toxic (P.morifolia). If you get froze you probably grow hardy species, P.caerulea and P.incarnata, none make good fruits even if some people use caeruela's fruits for tarts. They do not really enjoy wind especially if it is dry.
I never root any cuttings in water, always directly in cutting mix or in loose ground in shaded areas. Rooting in water will produce thin and weak roots which will easily break when put in the soil. I do not think butterflies breed in the vines, they come to feed on nectar and lay eggs if the caterpillars happen to feed on the species.
