Passion Fruit Passiflora edulis
LATIN NAME: Passiflora edulis
COMMON NAME: Passion Fruit
The passion fruit vine gives two of the great pleasures of the warm garden: the flowers and the fruit. The vigorous, twining vine carries the deeply lobed, dark-green leaves and the extraordinary, fringed flowers with the ring of the purple and the white filaments, one of the most ornate flowers of the garden, and the round, purple fruits follow with the fragrant, golden, seedy pulp within. The vine is one of the fine, generous fruit plants of the warm regions, and the pulp is a classic of the juices, the desserts and the sauces. It is a vine of the deep, rich, well-drained ground.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The passion fruit is a regular visitor to the research plots, studied for the extraordinary, fringed flowers and the round fruits with the fragrant, golden pulp. The way the vine flowers and fruits over the long season has been studied closely, and it keeps showing up in the work on the fruit vines, the warm-climate crops and the members of the passionflower family. The deeply lobed leaves and the vigorous, twining habit have also made it a fine garden plant, and the passion fruit is a regular subject of the studies of the flavouring fruits of the warm world.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
The passion fruit gives its best in the warm garden and the kitchen. The round, purple fruits hold the fragrant, golden, seedy pulp that is a classic of the juices, the sorbets, the desserts and the sauces, and the vine is one of the fine, generous fruit plants of the warm regions, flowering and fruiting through the long season. The extraordinary, fringed flowers are also one of the most ornate of the garden, and the vigorous vine covers the trellis, the fence and the warm wall with the ease. It has been written up in the horticultural and the culinary papers for the ornate flowers and the golden pulp, and it is a fine, generous vine of the deep, rich, well-drained garden.
The passion fruit vine is one of the fine, generous fruit plants of the warm regions, and the round, purple fruits hold the fragrant, golden, seedy pulp that is a classic of the juices, the sorbets, the desserts and the sauces. The extraordinary, fringed flowers are one of the most ornate of the garden.
To grow the passion fruit from seed, sow the fresh seeds at once in pots of moist, free-draining soil, covering them thinly, keep the pots in a warm, bright spot and water gently. The seedlings appear within a few weeks and climb fast. With the sun, the warmth and the deep, rich, well-drained ground, the fringed flowers and the purple fruits will come through the warm season.
Uses: Culinary/Medicinal
Unusual vine bearing spectacular star-like lavender flowers. Edible purple fruits possess pleasant flavour. Used as table fruit and in sherbet, jam, and beverages. Grow in sunniest window or greenhouse and provide support of trellis.