Passiflora caerulea |
Passiflora |
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blue passion flower, bluecrown passionflower |
passion flower |
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Stems | angular when young, glabrous. |
terete to angled; tendrils simple [branched]. |
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Leaves | weakly pungent, glabrous; stipules subreniform, 10–20 × 5–10 mm, glandular-serrate; petiole glandular, glands clavate; blade roughly symmetric, 3–10(–16) × 4–11(–14) cm, deeply (3–)5–7(–9)-lobed, middle lobe as long as or longer than lateral lobes, margins entire but often serrate basally on lobes; abaxial fine veins prominently raised, abaxial nectaries scattered along margins. |
petiolate; stipules leaflike to minutely setaceous, margins entire, serrate, or deeply cleft, sometimes glandular; blade (2)3(–9)-lobed or unlobed, base cuneate to cordate or rarely peltate, surfaces sometimes glandular, glands or nectaries associated with marginal teeth or abaxially near margins or between primary veins. |
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Inflorescences | solitary or paired flowers, simple or many-branched [pedunculate cyme with central pedicel often as aborted tendril], secondary inflorescences sometimes present as condensed, axillary (terminal) shoots; bracts 0 or (1–)3, scattered to whorled, margins sometimes glandular. |
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Flowers | floral tube cuplike, 4–5 mm deep; sepals white, 20–35 × 10–15 mm; petals white, 20–40 × 10–15 mm; corona filament whorls 4, outer filaments dark purple basally, white medially, purple apically (rarely entirely white), linear, terete to slightly flattened, 10–20 mm. |
bisexual or sometimes functionally unisexual [staminate]; hypanthium flattened to cuplike or tubular; sepals sometimes with subapical setose to leaflike projection; stamens 5[8], usually alternate with petals, borne on short to elongate androgynophore; anthers dorsifixed, versatile; ovary 3[–5]-carpellate, borne at tip of androgynophore. |
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Fruits | baccate [capsular or capsulelike berries]. |
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Berries | yellow-orange to orange, ovoid to ellipsoid, 30–50 × 30–35 mm. |
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Floral | bracts ovate to ovate-oblong, 15–25 × 10–15 mm, margins entire or weakly serrate, eglandular. |
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Vines | , glabrous or densely hairy, sometimes glandular. |
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x | = 6. |
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2n | = 18. |
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Passiflora caerulea |
Passiflora |
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Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jun. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Disturbed areas, open woodlands, chaparral | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0–400 m (0–1300 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
CA; South America (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay) [Introduced in North America]
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North America; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Australasia; warm-temperate to tropical areas [Some species introduced in the tropics worldwide] |
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Discussion | Passiflora caerulea is cultivated widely in the flora area but naturalized only in the Los Angeles metropolitan area (see F. Hrusa et al. 2002). It is possibly introduced in the Mule Mountains of southeastern Arizona (J. Koweek, pers. comm.), although this has not been confirmed. It was reported also from Utah by S. L. Welsh et al. (2003), although as “cultivated...long-persisting,” suggesting that it is not actually naturalized there. This species is cold-hardy and can be cultivated in gardens in relatively cold regions (at least USDA plant hardiness zone 6), but it is unlikely to flower in such areas because of relatively short growing seasons, although it still makes an interesting foliage plant. Even in the absence of sexual reproduction, this species can persist and even spread locally by root suckering. The artificial hybrid Passiflora ×belotii will key to P. caerulea in this treatment. However, the leaves of P. ×belotii are consistently three-lobed, unlike the primarily five- to seven-lobed leaves of P. caerulea. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Species ca. 550 (18 in the flora). Passiflora species have been arranged under a variety of infrageneric systems, with the 22 subgeneric system by E. P. Killip (1938) the most commonly used until recently. The most recent system (C. Feuillet and J. M. MacDougal 2003) recognizes only four subgenera: Astrophea (de Candolle) Masters, Decaloba (de Candolle) Reichenbach, Deidamioides (Harms) Killip, and Passiflora. The flora area includes species of only the two largest subgenera: Passiflora, with relatively large flowers and fruits and a predominant chromosome number of n = 9, and Decaloba, with relatively small flowers and fruits and a predominant chromosome number of n = 6. Recent molecular-based phylogenetic studies have investigated the relationships and circumscriptions of infrageneric groups, generally supporting the Feuillet and MacDougal subgeneric classification (for example, V. C. Muschner et al. 2003; R. Yockteng and S. Nadot 2004; A. K. Hansen et al. 2006; S. E. Krosnick et al. 2013). Primarily outcrossers, Passiflora flowers attract pollinators by fragrance, showiness, or nectar secreted within the hypanthium. While collecting nectar, visitors inadvertently collect downward when receptive, then erect again when no longer receptive. Passiflora species are pollinated principally by insects (generally flying Hymenoptera), which seem to prefer scented species. However, species with long-tubular, scentless, red flowers (especially common in the Andes) are hummingbird-pollinated, and bat pollination is also known (T. Ulmer and J. M. MacDougal 2004). Our native species have a conspicuous corona, are scented, and are insect-pollinated. Passiflora incarnata is pollinated primarily by carpenter bees (Hymenoptera, Anthophoridae; C. M. McGuire 1999). Passiflora lutea is pollinated by various hymenoptera, including wasps (J. M. MacDougal 1983), and a ground-nesting bee, Anthemurgus passiflorae (Hymenoptera, Andrenidae), that pollinates only this species of Passiflora (and no other plant species) and with which it shares a similar geographic distribution (C. D. Michener et al. 1994; J. L. Neff and J. G. Rozen 1995; Neff 2003). Passiflora fruits are generally adapted to animal consumption for seed dispersal. The relatively large, fragrant, and often yellowish fruits of subgenus Passiflora are probably mammal-dispersed; the relatively small, often purplish berries with occasionally brightly colored arils of subgenus Decaloba are probably bird-dispersed (J. M. MacDougal 1983). Some butterflies of the family Nymphalidae (Nymphalinae, Heliconiinae) are obligate-associates of Passiflora, using plants as larval hosts (L. E. Gilbert 1982). The larvae sequester and metabolize plant toxins for their own defense against predation, even into adulthood, which has resulted in complicated Batesian and Muellerian mimicry networks of Heliconiinae species. Passiflora-Heliconiinae coevolution has been a subject of interest (W. W. Benson et al. 1975). Passiflora defenses include extreme leaf polymorphism (Benson et al.), defensive trichomes (Gilbert; J. M. MacDougal 1994), extrafloral nectaries (Benson et al.), and butterfly egg-mimicry (Gilbert; K. S. Williams and Gilbert 1981). Some Passiflora species exhibit polymorphism is best exemplified in the closely related P. pallida and P. tenuiloba; color variation is most strongly expressed in P. mexicana and P. pallens. Extrafloral nectaries occur most commonly on petioles, stipules, leaf margins and abaxial surfaces, and floral bracts, attracting potential defenders such as predatory or parasitic Hymenoptera; see J. A. Scott (1986) for a survey of Heliconiinae associated with Passiflora in North America. Fifteenth-century Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to encounter Passiflora. Some saw religious symbolism in its floral morphology, signifying various aspects of Christ’s crucifixion (E. E. Kugler and L. A. King 2004), the three styles representing the nails, the corona representing the crown of thorns, and red coloration (if present) representing the blood of Christ. This symbolism led to its cultivation in Europe in the early seventeenth century; P. incarnata was probably the first species grown there. Several species are cultivated for their edible fruits, including Passiflora edulis Sims, P. laurifolia Linnaeus, P. quadrangularis Linnaeus, P. tarminiana, P. tripartita (Jussieu) Poiret var. mollissima (Kunth) Holm-Nielsen & P. Jørgensen, and P. vitifolia Kunth (T. Ulmer and J. M. MacDougal 2004). However, because the genus is generally cyanogenic, immature fruits of all species are probably poisonous and should not be consumed. Although Passiflora is commonly considered tropical, the flora area has several native cold-tolerant species. Many of these invest heavily in below-ground structures, having rhizomes or root-suckers (for example, P. affinis, P. filipes, P. foetida var. gossypiifolia, P. incarnata, P. lutea, P. mexicana, and P. tenuiloba). Passiflora species are horticulturally desirable because of the unusual appearance and attractiveness of their flowers and leaves. Because of their popularity, it is expected that the number of species naturalized in the flora area will increase. In our flora, P. arida, P. caerulea, and P. tarminiana are well-established escapes that are also popular in horticulture. However, there are currently far fewer species of Passiflora introduced and established in our range than have been reported (J. T. Kartesz 1994), some cultivated only (D. G. Burch et al. 1988). Species long-persisting in old plantings, “naturalizing” merely by root-suckering, or historical adventives that are long-absent or poorly documented, are not formally covered in this treatment, for example, P. ×belotii Pepin (P. alata Curtis × P. caerulea; R. P. Wunderlin and B. F. Hansen 2003), P. edulis (Wunderlin and Hansen), P. gracilis (E. P. Killip 1938), P. ‘Incense’ (P. incarnata × P. cincinnata), P. manicata (C. F. Smith 1976), P. miniata (Wunderlin and Hansen, identified as P. coccinea), P. mixta Linnaeus, and P. morifolia Masters (Killip; A. E. Radford et al. 1968; syn. P. warmingii). Passiflora ×belotii does not form fruit and it is unlikely to naturalize except by rooting at the nodes of fallen branches or possibly by suckering. J. C. Estill and M. B. Cruzan (2001) mentioned that P. morifolia is endemic to South Carolina, whereas it is actually native only to Central and South America. Currently, any minimally “naturalized” species or hybrids listed above that might be encountered are in California or Florida, specifically P. ×belotii, P. edulis, and P. ‘Incense’, P. miniata, and P. mixta. In the key below, P. ×belotii will key to P. caerulea, P. edulis and P. ‘Incense’ to P. incarnata, P. miniata to P. multiflora, and P. mixta to P. tarminiana. For broad and well-illustrated treatments of the genus, see T. Ulmer and J. M. MacDougal (2004), and J. Vanderplank (2000). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 6, p. 181. | FNA vol. 6, p. 171. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Passifloraceae > Passiflora | Passifloraceae | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 959. (1753) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 955. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 410. (1754) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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