''Passiflora caerulea'', the blue passionflower, bluecrown passionflower or common passion flower, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

to South America. It has been introduced elsewhere. It is a vigorous,

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 ...

or semi-

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

tendril

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 ...

growing to or more. Its leaves are palmate, and its fragrant flowers are blue-white with a prominent fringe of coronal filaments in bands of blue, white,yellow, and brown. The ovoid orange fruit, growing to , is edible, but is variously described as having a bland, undesirable, or insipid taste. In South America, the plant is known for its medicinal properties, and is used by both the

Toba Toba may refer to: Languages * Toba Sur language, spoken in South America * Batak Toba, spoken in Indonesia People * Toba people, indigenous peoples of the Gran Chaco in South America * Toba Batak people, a sub-ethnic group of Batak people from ...

and the Maka peoples.

Names

The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''caerulea'' means "blue" and refers to the blue coronal filaments.

Description

''Passiflora caerulea'' is a woody vine capable of growing to high where supporting

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s are available. 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 alternate, palmately five-lobed (sometimes three, seven, or nine lobes), and are up to in length while being linear-oblong shaped. The base of each leaf has a flagellate-twining tendril long, which twines around supporting vegetation to hold the plant up. The

flower 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 mechani ...

is complex, about in diameter, with the five sepals and petals similar in appearance, whitish in colour, surmounted by a corona of blue or violet filaments, then five greenish-yellow

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s and three purple stigmas. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is an oval orange-yellow

berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, raspb ...

, long by in diameter, containing numerous

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s. It is edible to humans when ripe, but tends to have an undesirable flavour.

Cultivation

''Passiflora caerulea'' is widely cultivated as a wall-climber or as groundcover. Though hardy down to , it requires a sheltered position facing south or west (in the Northern Hemisphere). It can become invasive, the twining shoots constantly appearing unless eradicated. It has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

Cultivars

Passiflora caerulea Constance Elliot (3)

A number of

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s have been produced from the species: *'Chinensis' (corona filaments paler blue) *'Constance Elliott' was raised by Kucombe and Prince in Exeter,

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. It has pure white, fragrant flowers; not as free-flowering as many other

clones Clone or Clones or Cloning or Cloned or The Clone may refer to: Places * Clones, County Fermanagh * Clones, County Monaghan, a town in Ireland Biology * Clone (B-cell), a lymphocyte clone, the massive presence of which may indicate a pathologi ...

. It has also won the Award of Garden Merit from the

. *'Pierre Pomie', a pale pink flower form

Chemical constituents

Compared to ''Passiflora incarnata'', this plant contains higher amounts of the MAO-inhibitor

harmine Harmine is a beta-carboline and a harmala alkaloid. It occurs in a number of different plants, most notably the Syrian rue and ''Banisteriopsis caapi''. Harmine reversibly inhibits monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A), an enzyme which breaks down monoamin ...

Other uses

Though the fruit is edible, it is rather insipid when eaten raw. A tea can be made of the flower or leaves; however, tetraphyllin B and epi-tetraphyllin B,

cyanogenic glycoside In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. ...

s which liberate

hydrogen cyanide Hydrogen cyanide, sometimes called prussic acid, is a chemical compound with the formula HCN and structure . It is a colorless, extremely poisonous, and flammable liquid that boils slightly above room temperature, at . HCN is produced on an ...

when activated by enzymes, have been found in the leaves. It is possible to boil away most of the cyanide.DS Seiglera, KC Spencera, WS Statlerb, EE Connb, JE Dunnb,
Tetraphyllin B and epitetraphyillin B sulphates: Novel cyanogenic glucosides from Passiflora caerulea and P. alato-caerulea
, ''Phytochemistry'', 21/9 (1982), 2277-2285. In

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, the plant is known for its medicinal uses. It is used in both herbal tea and dietary supplements, as well as in marmalades, ice creams, syrups and beverages. It is also used by the indigenous Argentinian

and Maka people. The passion flower is the national flower of

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. Its intricate structure has generated Christian symbolism, each part representing a different part of the

Passion of Christ In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ. Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...

. The "

Etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

and names" section of Passiflora contains more information about this

symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sym ...

Gallery

File:Fleur de jardin.JPG, Flower File:Passiflora caerulea (2005 10 08) - vrucht.jpg, Fruit File:South Central Farm 45.jpg, Flower of ''Passiflora caerulea'' File:Passiflora caerulea 'Constance Elliot'.jpg, 'Constance Elliot', a white flower form File:Passiflora "Pierre Pomié".jpg, 'Pierre Pomie', a pale pink flower form File:Passiflora-caerulea 2019-06-23 (DSC2447-1).jpg, Peculiarity: two fused filaments force anthers upwards, displaying pollen beds otherwise not visible from this perspective. File:Passiflora caerulea -Passiflore bleue-Fleurs-20210705.jpg, A photograph of ''P. caerulea'' File:Passiflora caerulea seeds.jpg, The seeds of ''P. caerulea'', the red gel-like substance around them removed

References

External links

Topwalks.net: ''Passiflora caerulea''
{{Authority control

caerulea ''Caerulea'' is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. It is a small genus with only two species. *'' Caerulea coeligena'' (Oberthür, 1876) western China, central China. *'' Caerulea coelestis'' (Alphéraky, 1897) Tibet, western Chin ...

Flora of Argentina Flora of Brazil Flora of Uruguay Garden plants of South America Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus