Passiflora tarminiana
Passiflora tenuiloba
banana passion fruit, banana passionflower, banana poka
birdwing passionflower
terete, densely hairy.
terete, sparsely hairy, (bark not corky).
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.
not pungent, glabrous or subglabrous to short-hairy, not soft-hairy;
stipules linear-subulate, 2–5 × 0.5–1 mm, eglandular;
petiole glandular, glands cuplike;
blade roughly symmetric, 2–7 × 2.5–16 cm, as wide as to usually wider than long, 3–9-lobed, primary lobes 3 and often further lobed, lobes acute, middle primary lobe much shorter than to ± as long as lateral 2 primary lobes, margins entire;
abaxial fine veins moderately to prominently raised, abaxial nectaries usually absent, sometimes present near leaf margins but not forming lines.
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 absent;
sepals green, 6–10 × 2–4 mm;
petals absent;
corona filament whorls 2, outer filaments purple basally, yellow apically, or yellow throughout, linear, terete to slightly transversely compressed, 3–7 mm.
yellow to orange-yellow, oblong to ellipsoid-fusiform, 100–140 × 35–45 mm.
dark blue to black, globose to dorsiventrally compressed, 6–12 × 6–12 mm.
bracts leaflike, 25–50 × 20–30 mm, margins entire, eglandular.
bracts obscure, linear-subulate, 1 × 0.2–0.5 mm, margins entire, eglandular.
= 24.
Passiflora tarminiana
Passiflora tenuiloba
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.)
E. P. Killip (1938) and W. C. Martin and C. R. Hutchins (1980) incorrectly indicated that Passiflora tenuiloba is native to New Mexico. This is based upon the misinterpretation of confusing labels on old specimens (see D. H. Goldman 2004).
Passiflora tenuiloba has the most variable leaves of any species in the genus. They vary considerably in texture, color, indument, lobe length and number, and petiole-gland size and shape, not only between populations but also within individual plants.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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