Passiflora tarminiana
Passiflora pallens
banana passion fruit, banana passionflower, banana poka
pineland passionflower
terete, densely hairy.
terete when young, glabrous.
not pungent, densely soft-hairy abaxially, sparsely hairy adaxially;
stipules subreniform, often leaflike, 4–7 × 2–3 mm, eglandular;
petiole glandular, glands emergent protuberances;
blade roughly symmetric, 5.5–16(–28) × 7–16(–29) cm, deeply 3-lobed, middle lobe as long as or longer than lateral lobes, margins serrate;
abaxial fine veins prominently raised, abaxial nectaries absent.
weakly to moderately pungent, glabrous;
stipules subreniform, 10–20 × 5–14 mm, eglandular;
petiole glandular, glands clavate;
blade roughly symmetric, 1.5–6 × 2.5–9 cm, shallowly 3-lobed, middle lobe as long as or longer than lateral lobes, margins serrate basally;
abaxial fine veins moderately raised, abaxial nectaries absent.
floral tube elongate, 60–80 mm deep;
sepals pink, 45–60 × 12–25 mm;
petals pink, 40–54 × 15–20 mm;
corona filament whorls 1, filaments tuberculate knobs, purple basally, white apically, 1–2 mm.
floral tube cuplike, 3–5 mm deep;
sepals white, 30–35 × 7–12 mm;
petals white, 20–30 × 6–10 mm;
corona filament whorls 4, outer filaments green basally, white apically, with alternating lines of purple, linear, terete, 7–15 mm.
yellow to orange-yellow, oblong to ellipsoid-fusiform, 100–140 × 35–45 mm.
yellow to yellow-orange, ovoid, 30–50 × 25–35 mm.
bracts leaflike, 25–50 × 20–30 mm, margins entire, eglandular.
bracts ovate, 10–20 × 9–12 mm, margins basally serrate to glandular-serrate basally.
Passiflora tarminiana
Passiflora pallens
Passiflora tarminiana is sparingly naturalized in the eastern San Francisco Bay area (F. Hrusa et al. 2002) and southward along the coast to San Luis Obispo County, in areas of minimal summer drought.
This species was recently described, and is commonly confused with Passiflora mollissima (Kunth) L. H. Bailey [now usually recognized as P. tripartita var. mollissima (Knuth) Holm-Nielsen & P. Jørgensen]. Many reports of P. mollissima in agricultural, horticultural, and weed-science literature actually apply to P. tarminiana. An attractive plant with large, edible fruits (T. Ulmer and J. M. MacDougal 2004), it is an extremely aggressive weed in Hawaii (A. M. La Rosa 1984, as P. mollissima) and other areas where it has been introduced in the Old World tropics and subtropics. The species is unlikely to become a widespread weed in the continental United States because it cannot survive frost nor occasional desiccation.
A similar, closely related species, Passiflora mixta Linnaeus f., is a rare escape in San Francisco, California; it can be distinguished from P. tarminiana by its angular young stems, persistent stipules (deciduous in P. tarminiana), and a floral tube 80–110 mm deep, 1.6–2.6 times the sepal length (1.3–1.6 times in P. tarminiana).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Leaf and stipule variegation, although rare within subg. Passiflora, is occasionally found in Passiflora pallens, and may serve to camouflage plants from predators in the dappled shade of their habitats. Listed as endangered in Florida, in the flora area it is found only in the southernmost part of the state.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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