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Passiflora caerulea - L.

Passion Flower

Author	L.	Botanical references	11, 200
Family	Passifloraceae	Genus	Passiflora
Synonyms
Known Hazards	None known
Range	Central and Western S. America - Brazil.
Habitat	Not known
Edibility Rating	3 (1-5)	Medicinal Rating	0 (1-5)

Physical Characteristics

An evergreen Climber growing to 10m by 10m at a fast rate.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats

Woodland Garden; Sunny Edge; Dappled Shade; South Wall By; West Wall By;

Edible Uses

Edible Parts: Flowers; Fruit.

Fruit - raw or cooked[2, 4, 105]. The unripe fruits are cooked[177], whilst the ripe fruits are eaten raw or made into a refreshing drink[183]. The flavour is not very desirable[3]. The fruit is about 6cm long and 4cm wide, it is partly hollow and contains a small amount of pleasant acid-tasting pulp surrounding a large quantity of seeds[K]. The flowers can be made into a syrup.

Medicinal Uses

Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally.

None known

Other Uses

Rootstock.

This plant can be used as a rootstock for some of the less hardy members of this genus, conferring on them an additional cold tolerance. Be careful that root suckers do not take over from the grafted plant[200].

Scented Plants

Flowers: Fresh

The flowers are delicately scented[245]. The cultivar 'Constance Elliot' is more fragrant[245].

Cultivation details

Requires a well-drained soil with plenty of moisture in the growing season, otherwise it is not fussy[1, 200]. Dislikes highly alkaline soils[202]. Hardy to about -15°c, if plants are cut down to the ground by frost they can regenerate from the base[200]. Very fast growing[11]. Roots of outdoor grown plants should be restricted to encourage fruiting[1]. Plants produce tendrils and climb by attaching these to other plants. The plant has a very long flowering period, from early summer to early autumn, though individual flowers only live for about 48 hours[245]. The flowers are open all night and start to close in the morning[260]. The flowers are delicately scented[245]. The cultivar 'Constance Elliot' is more fragrant[245]. If fruit is required, especially when the plant is grown indoors, it is best to hand pollinate using pollen from a flower that has been open for 12 hours to pollinate a newly opened flower before midday[88, 200]. The flowers open in sunny weather and do not open on dull cloudy days[219]. Fruit is only formed after long hot summers in Britain[166]. Plants are very tolerant of pruning and can be cut back to ground level if required to rejuvenate the plant[202]. Any pruning is best carried out in the spring[219]. Plants in this genus are notably resistant to honey fungus[200].

Propagation

Pre-soak the seed for 12 hours in warm water and then sow late winter or early spring in a warm greenhouse. If sown in January and grown on fast it can flower and fruit in its first year[88]. The seed germinates in 1 - 12 months at 20°c. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle. It you are intending to grow the plants outdoors, it is probably best to keep them in the greenhouse for their first winter and plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Mulch the roots well in late autumn to protect them from the cold. Cuttings of young shoots, 15cm with a heel, in spring[1]. Leaf bud cuttings in spring. Cuttings of fully mature wood in early summer. Takes 3 months. High percentage[3].

Cultivars

'Constance Elliot'

Links

This plant is also mentioned in the following PFAF articles: The Potted Garden, The Woodland Edge Garden.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[3] Simmons. A. E. Growing Unusual Fruit. David and Charles 1972 ISBN 0-7153-5531-7
A very readable book with information on about 100 species that can be grown in Britain (some in greenhouses) and details on how to grow and use them.

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[11] Bean. W. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Murray 1981
A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.

[88] RHS. The Garden. Volume 112. Royal Horticultural Society 1987
Snippets of information from the magazine of the RHS. In particular, there are articles on plants that are resistant to honey fungus, oriental vegetables, Cimicifuga spp, Passiflora species and Cucurbits.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[166] Taylor. J. The Milder Garden. Dent 1990
A good book on plants that you didn't know could be grown outdoors in Britain.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[202] Davis. B. Climbers and Wall Shrubs. Viking. 1990 ISBN 0-670-82929-3
Contains information on 2,000 species and cultivars, giving details of cultivation requirements. The text is terse but informative.

[219] Grey-Wilson. C. & Matthews. V. Gardening on Walls Collins 1983 ISBN 0-00-219220-0
A nice little book about plants for growing against walls and a small section on plants that can grow in walls.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

[260] Phillips. R. & Rix. M. Conservatory and Indoor Plants Volumes 1 & 2 Pan Books, London. 1998 ISBN 0-330-37376-5
Excellent photos of over 1,100 species and cultivars with habits and cultivation details plus a few plant uses. Many species are too tender for outdoors in Britain though there are many that can be grown outside.

Readers Comments

Plants for a Future does not verify the accuracy of reader comments, use at your own risk. In particular Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. You should always consult a professional before using plants medicinally.

Passiflora caerulea

david Tue Jan 9 05:16:10 2001

Apparently P. coerulea (with an o not an a, I expect it is the same plant) has been used for nervous and menstral complaints in much the same way as P.incarnata in Paraguay. I've no idea of safety or effectiveness. I've been drinking a relaxing tea of herbs including P.incarnata, is very nice, I expect it is the very nice ingredient. Seems to provide a similar degree of ease, relaxation as beer or (I imagine) dope without the often undesirable(& illegal) intoxication. It also appears to be quite compatable with physical work to me, even helpful.

Have never seen a P.incarnara plant, think it may not be in this country (New Zealand). p.caerulea is available here, haven't tried itm dont know if I will.

ref: p213(footnote.) Maori healing and Herbal . Murdoch Riley. Viking Sevenseas Ltd.1997

Passiflora caerulea

David Nicholls Thu Jan 11 02:36:46 2001

Since writing this I've read in the widely available book "Tyler's Honest Herbal" that P. caerulea has harmful substances in it(& identifies them) and says that confusion between this and p. incarnata has given P. incarnata an undeserved bad name. (I won't go into details in respect to copywrite and his hard work).

So the above info on Paraguay uses is not for the home experimenter, I certainly won't be trying it . Perhaps there would be potential for chemists to seperate toxins from useful costituents, if there are any.

Learning more about what they do with it in Paraguay would still be of interest to me.

Passiflora caerulea

Mrs Susan Washington Thu Jul 15 17:52:38 2004

Could someone tell me what part of the flower do I get the seed from. My plant is doing extremely well and I have one friut growing at the moment. Thankyou. Sue

Passiflora caerulea

David M. Chandler Tue Jul 19 23:02:47 2005

See also: http://www.cis.um.edu.mt/~phcy/symp98/SimoneSchembri.html

Link: Botanicls Online Details of P. caerulea's use medicinally

Passiflora caerulea

Martin Short Sat Sep 6 2008

Good Morning, Just wanted to learn a little bit extra about the fruit and any do's and don'ts on the eating of it. I assume that when te fruit has gone orange all over they are ripe. They can, I undersatnd be eaten raw - perhaps with a little sugar. Any other suggestions as to what to do with them would be great. Many Thanks Martin

Passiflora caerulea

Alastair Bruce Tue Sep 23 2008

My Caerulea, the third grown in succession, is about to suffer the same fate as the others - the leaves are drooping and I expect the plant will die. All summer it has been fine, with flowers and good growth. This one is a cutting from the last, snatched as a last gasp. I use Innes no 2 or 3 and the pot is about 15" diameter. Am I jinxed or are they herbaceous? It is in a cold greenhouse. Any help gratefully reveived.

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