Passiflora (Passionflower, Passionfruit) Thread

[RandyS]

I noticed that there was a Passiflora thread on Terraforums, but many years ago. I thought it was time to start a new one.

Although pictures of flowers can be flashy, I want to encourage people to post picture, comments, questions about whatever... Fruits, leaves (some species are grown primarily for foliage, not flowers), propagation, wild species, questions of carnivory (Dysosmias) and so on. Whatever seems interesting.

I figured I'd start with my most reliable Passiflora, which means that it does well in spite of the shade in my tiny growing area: Passiflora loefgrenii. Right now I grow two varieties: 'Iporanga' (both in a pot and in the ground) and Corupa (a new plant in a pot). I have an extra 'Iporanga' in a pot that's too big to easily ship, for anyone who lives in my area (SF Peninsula, San Mateo County). A free plant.

The first photo is actually in my old location, about 20 miles South of where I am now. Passiflora loefgrenii 'Iporanga':



In addition to it's contrasting day-glow colors and appearance as if it were drawn by Dr. Seuss, one thing I really like about P. loefgrenii 'Iporanga' is its long peduncles. I've seen them over a foot--in fact just today on one of my plants. This photo illustrates the effect:



Another nice feature about Passiflora loefgrenii is that it blooms small. Here are rooted cuttings for sale in a local nursery (wholesaler Annie's Annuals) showing buds on a small plant:



One thing that the 'Iporanga' clone does not do is make fruit easily. I'm told that even with an appropriate pollen source, it's difficult to get this variety to make fruit. It does, however, provide potent pollen as a male parent when making hybrids.

The other Passiflora loefgrenii variety that one frequently encounters is 'Corupa', which is not only self-fertile, but seems to make fruit off of most of it's flowers. I finally got a nice plant of 'Corupa' recently, which a friend bought at the UCBG Spring Sale. I don't have a picture of the flowers, right now, but their colors are less shocking, more pastel shades. The flowers are slightly smaller, and the peduncles are shorter on average. Here's my new plant, in fruit:



And finally, here's part of my "extra" plant showing buds and long peduncles. I was assured by a nursery that this was the variety that gets fruit... Even without blooming it, it's clear by the length of the peduncles that it is P. loefgrenii 'Iporanga'. Again, this plant is available, locally.



The fruit is sometimes billed as the "Garlic Passionfruit", as if this is a good thing, and a taste treat. Everyone I've heard from tells me the fruit tastes vile. I like this species a lot, however, and would love to be able to reproduce it from seeds.

I'll add more species and hybrids to this thread, and hopefully others will as well.

 

[hcarlton]

Wish my cutting had managed to take root.....lovely flowers!
As soon as I'm done on my rounds this week I'll get pics of the P. pinnatistipula seedlings, as well as my P. coccinea plant that is waking up with the warm weather again (and needs a new pot ).

 

[Radagast]

So funny you should post this today. I just recently purchased one of these from a nursery and it is still in the pot. The plant is probably about a foot long so far. I bought a trellis for it and am hoping to plant it in the ground. It says they are hardy to zone 4 (I'm zone 5). Any suggestions for planting & care while it adjusts to being transplanted?

 

[SubRosa]

Really amazing plants! I lost the loefgrenii you sent, but the other 3 are doing very well. I should have a bloom on the sanguinolenta in the next couple days.

 

[RandyS]

Hawken and John,

I've found P. loefgrenii to often be difficult from cuttings. They tend to drop all the leaves, and then sulk (or die). Sometimes it's easy--I suspect this is partly a seasonal phenomenon, but I don't know what season is best. Right now, every new shoot has beautiful buds on long peduncles. It's kind of hard to sacrifice those for cuttings. As things warm up, the plant stops blooming for the summer--even here. I'm really hoping for lots of seeds from the 'Corupa' strain, to bypass vegetative propagation of this species. P. loefgrenii 'Corupa' is also nice, and some people would probably prefer it to 'Iporanga'.

P. sanguinolenta, on the other hand, is such a nice and easy and underrated species. The flowers are not huge, they're not flashy, but they are elegant. If you hit a flower of P. sanguinolenta with P. caerulea pollen (and I'm sure other species/hybrids work) it stimulates the normally self-sterile flower to self-pollinate. It then forms a capsule, rather than a fruit, which when mature splits open to reveal the seeds. I have not done this myself. I don't grow P. caerulea, but there's an old monster in our downtown, and I need to try this.

Radagast, the only species I've heard of which is OK to zone 5 is P. lutea, along with some Northern strains of P. incarnata. Zone 4 sounds like it's pushing it. P. incarnata is only sometimes hardy below zone 7 or so--one really needs to find the right strain. Strains from Florida are not hardy to that much cold. If you did buy P. incarnata, I've heard once it's established it can be a bit weedy. It's a species not commonly grown in California, because there's not much appeal for a plant which is dormant half the year and spreads aggressively through the roots. If it is one of the hardy stains, you are still right on the edge of it's range. So planting it next to a house, where it gets extra warmth, heavily mulching, etc. is important. Whatever tricks people do to keep plants alive through winter--not exactly something I have experience with. I think it also prefers to be not cold and wet at the same time. I expect it's pretty easy through the warmer months, with full sun and plenty of water.

 

[RandyS]

A couple small-flowered Decaloba hybrids: P. 'Manta' and P. 'Sunburst'. Decaloba is a subgenus within the genus Passilora.

Both of these can bloom as small plants; P. 'Manta always stays small, but 'Sunburst' can get huge under favorable conditions.

Here is 'Manta' in bloom. Manta is P. xiikzodz x P. coriacea. That strain of P. coriacea is now called P. sexocellata. These are known as "batwing" Passiforas, with (often) attractive, large, mottled leaves. "xiikzodz" means "batwing" in the Mayan language (whose name I forget). Zodz was their bat god.



This is an old photo; 'Manta' has never done well for me long term. I suspect like many other Decaloba Passifloras from low elevation it prefers a warmer climate. I've had a 'Manta' rooted cutting outside for the last year or so--it is tiny, with 2 leaves.

Here is 'Sunburst', a Patrick Worley hybrid, P. gilbertiana x P. jorullensis.



A blooming plant in a 4 inch pot:



And some leaves today, at about eye level. Note the spots on the leaves. These are egg mimicry, to try to fool butterflies into thinking that another butterfly has already laid eggs on the leaves. Pretty clever.

 

[RandyS]

Another spectacular Passiflora, which I have as a small plant is Passiflora parritae. This blooms as a large plant, and requires a cool (nearly) frost-free climate, such as San Francisco. It's in the group (now called a Supersection) Tacsonia. Tacsonias, Andean Passifloras adapted to live at high elevation and specialized for hummingbird pollination, used to be considered their own genus.

Here's the big plant at the SF Botanical Garden a couple summers ago. It was it's best bloom ever, then it got seriously damaged by that winter's freeze (27 F or less, 3 days in December 2013).



I've read that the species is in danger in the wild because it's numbers have been depleted as an indirect consequence of global warming. Apparently it's sole pollinator is the hummingbird Ensifera ensifera, and with warmer temperatures the bird has moved to higher elevations than P. parritae grows at. If you look carefully at the the flowers in the photo above you'll see why a unique hummingbird such as Ensifera ensifera is needed for pollination. The flowers are huge, by the way.

Here's what Ensifera ensifera looks like, courtesy of Wikimedia commons:

<a title="By Francesco Veronesi from Italy (Sword-billed Hummingbird - Ecuador_S4E4619) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASword-billed_Hummingbird_-_Ecuador_S4E4619.jpg"><img width="256" alt="Sword-billed Hummingbird - Ecuador S4E4619" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Sword-billed_Hummingbird_-_Ecuador_S4E4619.jpg/256px-Sword-billed_Hummingbird_-_Ecuador_S4E4619.jpg"/></a>

 

[Terrascape]

This is a extremely popular variety grown in Australia, its easy to grow and is a great fruit barer.

http://www.nelliekelly.com.au/about-us.html

The Nellie Kelly Passion fruit flower

Terrascape

 

[RandyS]

Interesting. I'm not aware of any commercially available grafted Passifloras (including Passionfruit) in the U.S. I wonder if nematodes are more of a problem there?

One thing that has been tried on a limited scale is grafting to temperature tolerant rootstock to extend the growing range of some species/hybrids with very particular needs--an example would be plants such as Passiflora parritae, shown above, and some of its relatives (other Tacsonias such as P. antioquiensis). The goal is generally to get extra heat tolerance for these plants which are usually only possible in cool summer climates. I've only heard limited reports of actual success, but in principle it can work.

Here's one of the Passiflora edulis strains which is widely grown in the U.S., 'Nancy Garrison'. These are from a few years ago, in my old location:



This is also one of the dark purple P. edulis strains--all of which are self-fertile. Purple when ripe.

 

[RandyS]

I'm a big believer in giving sources of plants. I think it's OK here since these are not CP nurseries. If it's a problem, let me know and I will delete.

Passiflora loefgrenii: Annie's Annuals and SF Botanical Garden (Strybing) for P. loefgrenii 'Iporanga'. UC Botanical Garden (Berkeley) for P. loefgrenii 'Corupa'
Passiflora 'Manta' and 'Sunburst': From a trade (Kevin P., who is not on this forum, I think). My current 'Sunburst' and tiny 'Manta' are from others.
P. parritae (not shown): SF Botanical Garden
P. edulis 'Nancy Garrison': Grassy Knoll Exotics

In general, I get most Passifloras from SF Botanical Garden, Annie's Annuals and Grassy Knoll Exotics. I recommend all of them highly.

 

[hcarlton]

Don't have a pic of the caerulea, because honestly everyone knows what those look like and mine is ugly right now, but here's the other Passiflora I grow currently
One of these guys nearly kicked it in the repot, but they're all growing again
Passiflora pinnatistipula by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
And this one needs a repot. You can also see the newly sprouted antioquiensis in the background.
Passiflora coccinea by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr

 

[Knuckles]

Any suggestions for a species that would do well in zone 8a north TX? I've been interested in growing passiflora b/c I love the fruit but they're also very beautiful. The flowers are just incomparable. I've had only 1 in the past from Santa Cruz that died quickly in TX.

 

[RandyS]

Normally if you want flowers and fruit (that you actually want to eat) and plan to grow the plant outside all year, zone 8 limits you to Passiflora incarnata, and potentially some of its hybrids. A problem with P. incarnata is that it's not normally self-fertile, so you need 2 clones to get fruit. There are apparently some self-fertile varieties, but they are not commercially available that I'm aware of.

P. tucumanensis and again, maybe some of its hybrids, are supposed to be fairly hardy and have good tasting fruits. They tend to be harder to find, and the straight species has a reputation as being difficult (and I think also not liking heat). P. 'Guglielmo Betto (P. incarnata x P. tucumanensis) is apparently a wonderful plant for flowers, but the fruits have only a small number of seeds (and the associated edible arils). I'm not sure whether it's self fertile.

Besides those, I would look into P. elegans. I'm not 100% sure it would take your winters (or summers) but I think so. It's self-fertile, but I've heard differing opinions as to whether it's self-pollinating (it may be necessary to hand pollinate, but on the same vine). This is a smallish plant, with small flowers and small fruit. The leaves are trilobed and it's very attractive as a vine. It's closely related to P. actinia, but differs in the lobed leaves, smaller flowers/fruit, and is supposed to be more heat tolerant. I've been told by some people that it's their favorite passionfruit, taste-wise, others don't like it so much. I think it might bloom mostly or exclusively in the Spring, but I'm not sure.

I have a ton of P. elegans cuttings from a friend, but they are recent. I have had bad luck trying to root it in the past. Grassy Knoll and Brushwood sell the plant.

If edible fruit is less of an issue, there is P. caerulea and a number of hybrids of that. P. lutea is sometimes mentioned because it is extremely hardy (zone 5), but the flowers are tiny.

 

[SubRosa]

Here's a crappy pic of a beautiful plant that grew from one of the cuttings so generously given to me by Randy a few months ago. P. sanguinolenta. It has already produced a couple flowers on the original stem, but those buds are all on new growth. Next time a flower opens I'll get a pic:

 

[SubRosa]

Here's a crappy pic of a beautiful plant grown from one of the cuttings I received through Randy's generosity, P. sanguinolenta. It's already bloomed on the original stem, but all of the growth in the pic is new. I'll post a flower pic next time one opens:

 

[SubRosa]

The flower:

 

[RandyS]

John, the P. 'Sunburst' in the first photo (upper left, egg mimicry obvious even in that view) also looks good.

P. sanguinolenta is a great plant because it's so easy to propagate and does well under so many conditions. It's one I grow in spite of the fact that it is not that good of a bloomer for me (due to lack of sun). It did pretty well last summer, though. The flowers are not big and flashy like some Passifloras, but they are simple and elegant.

Here's a trick to get capsules. In this species and some related plants, they form fruits that are not what one thinks of regarding Passifloras, but capsules that split open when ripe to expose the seeds. I understand that if one applies the pollen of the appropriate species, the exogenous pollen causes P. sanguinolenta to self-pollinate. I have not tried this personally, but a friend did, and reported success. He then lost the capsules in the freeze of December 2013. The species that I've heard used for this is Passiflora caerulea, although I would imagine others might also work. In general those with very "potent" pollen are probably the best bets. P. loefgrenii might be another to try for that reason. Both of those are from a different subgenus within Passiflora. The have a different number of chromosomes, so if a fruit/capsule is formed it would be the result of selfing.

Here are some pieces of my plant which shows the diversity in size, shape and patterning of the leaves, all on one plant, and all within several feet of one another. My "big" plant is still in a 1 gallon pot. The scale is inches.

 

[RandyS]

Here are some more leaves. I was out looking at my plants this evening, and I noticed a lot of them had unusually large leaves. So I starting picking leaves...

You can get some idea of the diversity of leaf shape and sizes here. I really don't grow any of those with truly ornamental leaves (P. boenderi, P. trifasciata, etc.)



They are:

1) Passiflora 'Preciosa' (P. macrocarpa 'Blue Moon' x P. alata)
2) Passiflora sanguinolenta (again)
3) Passiflora bogotensis
4) Passiflora 'Sunburst'
5) Passiflora 'Mission Dolores' (P. parritae x P. antioquiensis)
6) Passiflora membranacea, variegated, young plant
7) Passiflora membranacea "Strybing Clone" (underside shown)
8) Passiflora tarminiana Alba 'Bailadores'
9) Passiflora loefgrenii 'Iporanga'
10) Passiflora Oaklandia (a P. manicata hybrid, perhaps with P. tarminiana. Not a P. parritae hybrid, as claimed)

2,3,4,6 and 7 are Decalobas (a subgenus within Passiflora)
5,8 and 10 are Tacsonias, a group of Andean Passifloras that used to be a separate genus. Now a Supersection within the same subgenus as P. caerulea, etc.

Notice the egg mimicry in 3 (may be difficult to see) and 4. The idea is that a butterfly will see the white spots on the leaves, think eggs have already been laid, and pass up the leaf for a different one.

Some of these leaves are at or past the typical upper size limit for the species. Probaby the combination of a lot of shade and other conditions favored large leaf growth.

 

[Knuckles]

That is truly amazing the variety of leaves & all from passiflora plants.

 

[SubRosa]

John, the P. 'Sunburst' in the first photo (upper left, egg mimicry obvious even in that view) also looks good.

P. sanguinolenta is a great plant because it's so easy to propagate and does well under so many conditions. It's one I grow in spite of the fact that it is not that good of a bloomer for me (due to lack of sun). It did pretty well last summer, though. The flowers are not big and flashy like some Passifloras, but they are simple and elegant.

Here's a trick to get capsules. In this species and some related plants, they form fruits that are not what one thinks of regarding Passifloras, but capsules that split open when ripe to expose the seeds. I understand that if one applies the pollen of the appropriate species, the exogenous pollen causes P. sanguinolenta to self-pollinate. I have not tried this personally, but a friend did, and reported success. He then lost the capsules in the freeze of December 2013. The species that I've heard used for this is Passiflora caerulea, although I would imagine others might also work. In general those with very "potent" pollen are probably the best bets. P. loefgrenii might be another to try for that reason. Both of those are from a different subgenus within Passiflora. The have a different number of chromosomes, so if a fruit/capsule is formed it would be the result of selfing.

Here are some pieces of my plant which shows the diversity in size, shape and patterning of the leaves, all on one plant, and all within several feet of one another. My "big" plant is still in a 1 gallon pot. The scale is inches.

Thanks again Randy! If you recall it was the 'Sunburst' that initially drew my interest, so I'm very pleased at its progress. Even though it hasn't flowered, it's grown the most by far of any of the plants I got from you. The loefgrenii cutting didn't make it, but all the others are thriving. The 'Sunburst' has put on easily twice the biomass of the sanguinolenta, and is even outgrowing the foetida which was potted and growing when I started rooting the cuttings. Is the 'Sunburst' likely to bloom this season? Also do you think that the pollen of incarnata could trigger the sanguinolenta to set seed? Thanks again for introducing me to these beautiful plants!