Guide to Wild Foods and Useful Plants by Christopher Nyerges

Author:Christopher Nyerges
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2014-04-09T16:00:00+00:00

Passionflower, passion fruit, and leaves. Dude McLean

LEAVES P. incarnata and most other species of Passiflora have three segments or simple leaves. On P. caerulea, leaves are palmately shaped, and divided into five (sometimes seven) lobes. Each segment of the P. caerulea leaf is linear to elliptic in shape with a slightly wavy entire margin. The tip of each segment has a small bristle or awn. Each lobe measures approximately one inch to three inches in length. The leaf surface is glabrous (hairless), the upper surface being deep green, and the lower surface whitish green. The main veins visible on the lower side of the leaf are often red-stained. The petiole (leaf stalk) is from one inch to two inches long, sometimes with a red tint visible. The leaves are arranged alternately on the vine. P. caerulea is readily distinguishable from other species by its untypical five-lobed leaves.

FLOWERS The spectacular (almost otherworldly) flowers are present from May through August. The flower appears to have 10 white petals, but is actually composed of 5 petals and 5 identical-looking sepals.

The showy corona of P. incarnata is usually purple; in the case of P. caerulea, there is light purple on the outer fringe of the corona, a band of white, and deep purple on the inside of the corona. Five stamens develop on a column above the sepals and petals. The stamen’s anther and filament are green, and the anther has a conspicuous margin of yellow pollen. Above the stamen is the pistil with three knoblike stigmas. The entire flower is usually two to three inches in diameter.

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