''Passiflora lutea'', commonly known as yellow passionflower, is a

flowering A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...

in the family

Passifloraceae The Passifloraceae are a family of flowering plants, containing about 750 species classified in around 27 genera. They include trees, shrubs, lianas, and climbing plants, and are mostly found in tropical regions. The family takes its name from t ...

, native to the central and eastern United States. The vine has three-lobed leaves and small, yellowish-green, fringed flowers that appear in the summer, followed by green fruit that turn almost black at maturity. It grows in moist to wet habitats.

Description

''P. lutea'' is a

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

, climbing or trailing, unbranched

that can reach in length. Curled, springlike

tendrils In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There are many plants that have tendr ...

emerging from leaf axils help the vine to climb on structures or other vegetation. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are trilobed, long and broad, with a petiole. Leaves have smooth (entire) margins and are alternate on the stem. The upper surface of the leaves is dark green, and may be mottled with splotches of lighter green. In the north of its range, it is

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

The showy flowers appear singly or in pairs on slender flower stalks up to long. Each flower is wide with narrow yellowish greenish

petals Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corolla''. Petals are usually ...

and broader green

sepals A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

. The fruit is up to long and green, turning dark purple or black when ripe. Each fruit contains up to 10 seeds, which are brown, pointed at each end, and have a textured surface.

Similar species

''P. lutea'' is very similar to ''

Passiflora suberosa ''Passiflora suberosa'' is a species of passionflower that is native to the Americas. It is commonly known as corkystem passionflower due to the corkiness of older stems. Other common names include corky passion vine, cork-bark passion flower, c ...

'' (corkystem passionflower), differentiated by the leaves, which are more variable and generally have deeper lobes in ''P. suberosa'', and the stems, which are corky or winged in ''P. suberosa''. Also, ''P. suberosa'' has a more limited range, ocurring in Texas and Florida and parts of Latin America. Another similar species is ''

Menispermum canadense ''Menispermum canadense'', the Canadian moonseed, common moonseed, or yellow parilla, is a flowering plant in the family Menispermaceae, native to eastern North America, from southern Canada south to northern Florida, and from the Atlantic coas ...

'' (Canadian moonflower), whose leaves are a different shape, with three to seven lobes instead of just three. Also, the fruit of ''M. canadense'' grows in clusters and each berry has a single crescent shaped seed.

Etymology

The genus name ''Passiflora'' comes from the Italian word "passio", or suffering, based on a association of the flower parts to the

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. The species name ''luteo'' is from the Latin word for "yellow", due to the color of the flowers.

Distribution and habitat

''P. lutea'' is native in the United States from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

west to

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, and south to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. It is the northernmost species of ''Passiflora'', occurring slightly further north than '' P. incarnata'', and tolerant of winter temperatures down to −15 °C, and even −30 °C for short periods. ''P. lutea'' grows in bright shade to sunny places with moist, rich soil, such as open woodlands and low

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

ground.

Conservation

''Passiflora lutea'' is considered an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

Ecology

Yellow passionflower is often good for

butterfly garden Butterfly gardening is a way to create, improve, and maintain habitat for lepidopterans including butterflies, skippers, and moths. Butterflies have four distinct life stages—egg, larva, chrysalis, and adult. In order to support and sustain ...

s, as it is a host for Gulf fritillaries, julia butterflies (''Dryas julia''), and

zebra longwing ''Heliconius charithonia'', the zebra longwing or zebra heliconian, is a species of butterfly belonging to the subfamily Heliconiinae of the family Nymphalidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1767 12th edition of ''Systema Natura ...

s (''Heliconius charitonius''). It is also the only

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

source used by an unusual specialist bee, ''

Anthemurgus passiflorae ''Anthemurgus passiflorae'' (the passionflower bee) is a small (7.5-8.5 mm long), black, bee that occurs from central Texas to North Carolina and north to Illinois. Females of this solitary bee use collected nectar and pollen to feed larvae ...

'', which is the sole member of its genus; this rare bee is unusual in that despite its obligate relationship with the plant (

oligolecty The term oligolecty is used in pollination ecology to refer to bees that exhibit a narrow, specialized preference for pollen sources, typically to a single family or genus of flowering plants. The preference may occasionally extend broadly to mult ...

), it rarely pollinates it.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2511038 lutea Flora of the United States Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus