Passiflora caerulea

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Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox

Passiflora caerulea, the blue passionflower,[1] bluecrown passionflower[2] or common passion flower, is a species of flowering plant native to South America. It has been introduced elsewhere. It is a vigorous, deciduous or semi-evergreen tendril bearing vine growing to Template:Cvt or more. Its leaves are palmately lobed, and its fragrant flowers are blue-white with a prominent fringe of coronal filaments in bands of blue, white, yellow, and brown. The ovoid orange fruit, growing to Template:Cvt, is edible, but is variously described as having a bland,[3] undesirable,[4] or insipid taste.[5] In South America, the plant is known for its medicinal properties, and is used by both the Toba and the Maka peoples.[4][6]

Etymology

The specific epithet caerulea means "qara and refers to the blue colonial filaments.[7]

Description

File:Passiflora caerulea (makro close-up).jpg
Passiflora caerulea flower

Vegetative characteristics

Passiflora caerulea is a woody vine capable of growing to Template:Convert high where supporting trees are available.[8] The leaves are alternate, palmately five-lobed (sometimes three, seven, or nine lobes), and are up to Template:Convert in length while being linear-oblong shaped.[9] The base of each leaf has a flagellate-twining tendril Template:Convert long, which twines around supporting vegetation to hold the plant up.[8]

Generative characteristics

The flower is complex, about Template:Convert in diameter,[9] with the five sepals and petals similar in appearance, whitish in colour, surmounted by a corona of blue or violet filaments, then five greenish-yellow stamens and three purple stigmas.[8] The fruit is an oval orange-yellow berry, Template:Convert long by Template:Convert in diameter, containing numerous seeds.[8] It is edible to humans when ripe, but tends to have an undesirable flavour[4] unless allowed to fully ripen in a warm climate and fall naturally from the vine, when it has a mild blackberry flavour, though with a lower sugar content than commonly eaten species.

Cultivation

Passiflora caerulea is widely cultivated as a wall-climber or as groundcover. Though hardy down to Template:Cvt, it requires a sheltered position facing south or west (in the Northern Hemisphere). It can become invasive, the twining shoots constantly appearing unless eradicated. It is the only Passiflora species which volunteers in California. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[10]

Cultivars

File:Passiflora caerulea Constance Elliot (3).jpg
White flowered cultivar Passiflora caerulea 'Constance Elliott'

A number of cultivars have been produced from the species:

  • 'Chinensis' (corona filaments paler blue)
  • 'Constance Elliott' was raised by Kucombe and Prince in Exeter, Great Britain. It has pure white, fragrant flowers; not as free-flowering as many other clones. It has also won the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society.[11]
  • 'Pierre Pomie', a pale pink flower form

Chemical constituents

Compared to Passiflora incarnata, this plant contains higher amounts of the MAO-inhibitor harmine.[12]

Uses

File:Blue Passion Flower and Fruit.jpg
Passiflora caerulea flower and fruit

Though the fruit is edible, it is rather insipid when eaten raw. A tea can be made of the flower or leaves; however, tetraphyllin B and epi-tetraphyllin B, cyanogenic glycosides which liberate hydrogen cyanide when activated by enzymes, have been found in the leaves. It is possible to boil away most of the cyanide.[5]

In South America, the plant is known for its medicinal uses. It is used in both herbal tea and dietary supplements, as well as in marmalades, ice creams, syrups and beverages.[4][6] It is also used by the indigenous Argentinian Toba and Maka people.

Passiflora caerulea is sometimes used as a rootstock, to which is grafted a scion of the edible Passiflora edulis.[13]

The passion flower is the national flower of Paraguay. Its intricate structure has generated Christian symbolism, each part representing a different part of the Passion of Christ. The "Etymology and names" section of Passiflora contains more information about this symbolism.

Gallery

References

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External links

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Template:Passiflora Template:Taxonbar Template:Authority control

  1. ↑ Template:BSBI 2007
  2. ↑ Template:PLANTS
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ a b DS Seiglera, KC Spencera, WS Statlerb, EE Connb, JE Dunnb, 'Tetraphyllin B and epitetraphyillin B sulphates: Novel cyanogenic glucosides from Passiflora caerulea and P. alato-caerulea', Phytochemistry, 21/9 (1982), 2277-2285.
  6. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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