Passiflora foetida
Passiflora arida
fetid passionflower, scarletfruit passionflower, stinking passionflower
desert passionflower
terete, densely woolly-hairy.
pungent, densely woolly-hairy, with obscurely glandular or eglandular bristles;
stipules pectinate, 2–5 × 3–8 mm, with obscurely glandular or eglandular bristles or hairs;
petiole with obscurely glandular or eglandular bristles or hairs;
blade roughly symmetric, 3–6 × 2–7 cm, deeply (3–)5–7(–9)-lobed, middle lobe longer than lateral lobes, margins entire or serrate;
abaxial fine veins weakly to moderately raised but obscured by pubescence, abaxial nectaries absent.
floral tube cuplike, 3–5 mm deep;
sepals white, 13–23 × 5–9 mm;
petals white, 14–20 × 5–8 mm;
corona filament whorls 5–6, outer 2 whorls purple to magenta basally, white medially, pale pink apically, linear, terete, 10–17 mm.
green to pale yellow-green, ovoid, 2–3 × 15–25 mm.
bracts pinnatifid, 16–28 × 14–28 mm, margins entire or dentate, with obscurely glandular or eglandular bristles or hairs.
Passiflora foetida
Passiflora arida
Varieties ca. 30 (1 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
In the flora area, Passiflora arida is known only from the vicinity of Tucson, where it is introduced. Although native to desert and semidesert areas, in cultivation, this species readily adapts to mesic conditions, grows aggressively, is self-pollinating, and exhibits rapid seed germination, suggesting that it could become a problematic, widespread weed (D. H. Goldman 2003). In recent years it has been distributed in the horticultural trade and among enthusiasts, misidentified as P. foetida var. arizonica. In greenhouse cultivation this plant can produce leaves less densely hairy and much larger than those described above.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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