# Passion for Passion flowers - Passiflora lutea



## Leo Schordje (Jan 14, 2010)

I'm growing a _Passiflora lutea_ under lights, for the winter. I summer this outdoors. This is the first bloom for me, on a two year old cutting. _Passiflora lutea_ is one of the "dwarf" passion flowers, it is fairly compact. The flowers are small, a little bit less than 2 inches, and a nice shade of yellow. _P. lutea_ is native to southeastern states, and is winter hardy to zone 8, or maybe 7. The only other _Passiflora_ I own is a _P. incarnata_, the large flowered types all take up too much room. If I had room to grow everything I like I would need a 40,000 square foot greenhouse. :evil:


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## KyushuCalanthe (Jan 14, 2010)

Leo Schordje said:


> If I had room to grow everything I like I would need a 40,000 square foot greenhouse. :evil:



Leo, 

Ha! Ha! I know exactly what you mean...I think that is why one day I'll end up in a tropical country.

I've not seen this Passiflora before...interesting!


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## John M (Jan 14, 2010)

This is a beautiful and rewarding species, Leo. I had one for many years; but, lost it in the big freeze. It was in the greenhouse year 'round and bloomed the year 'round as well. Because of the small plant size and free blooming habit, it's well worth the valuable bench space it takes up.


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## Bolero (Jan 14, 2010)

Interesting one, I haven't see this either but we don't see many in this climate I guess.


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## biothanasis (Jan 14, 2010)

Very interesting and unusual passi! Great flower!


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## toddybear (Jan 14, 2010)

What a cute passionvine!


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## likespaphs (Jan 15, 2010)

dig it!
kinda reminds me of capsularis.
is it fragrant?
capsularis is from about 7 in the morning until about 11 in the morning. smells to me of vanilla.....


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## Leo Schordje (Jan 15, 2010)

likespaphs said:


> dig it!
> kinda reminds me of capsularis.
> is it fragrant?
> capsularis is from about 7 in the morning until about 11 in the morning. smells to me of vanilla.....



So far I have not noticed a fragrance on_ lutea_, but my nose is not as sensitive as it used to be. 

I have found _P. incarnata_ quite fragrant mid-afternoon.


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## Lanmark (Jan 15, 2010)

It's beautiful! And yellow! (for me the color yellow is da bomb) :drool:
Passifloras are on my "short list" of favorite genera, and if any of you really believe that list is short... :rollhappy:


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## SlipperFan (Jan 15, 2010)

Leo, your home must be a jungle!


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## streetmorrisart (Jan 16, 2010)

I really like this. I'm making a mental note for when I can actually put things outside in the summer--oh how I miss having a balcony! I too am with you on wanting to grow a bit of everything--there will never be enough space, money and time.


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## lindafrog (Jan 16, 2010)

Love those passsion flowers. they like it hot don'. they. Or is there a hope I could grow them in the cold. i'm with Robin and Leo, the best gardens are planned in January when space, growing conditions, time and money are not important. Its when all you have to do is look through snail mail catalogs and dream on.


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## likespaphs (Jan 16, 2010)

do i put a {possible} damper on things and ask if people know why they're called passionflowers?


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## Lanmark (Jan 16, 2010)

likespaphs said:


> do i put a {possible} damper on things and ask if people know why they're called passionflowers?



:ninja: Several hundred years ago Spanish missionaries of the Christian persuasion used the floral parts to illustrate the crucifixion of Christ. I would imagine that any recipients of this flowery sermon who didn't wholeheartedly embrace its meaning might have been crucified themselves, given the inquisitory attitudes of the times. oke:  I remember hearing this story eons ago but had to refresh my memory via Wikipedia h*XX*p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passion_flower


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## John M (Jan 16, 2010)

Lanmark said:


> :ninja: Several hundred years ago Spanish missionaries of the Christian persuasion used the floral parts to illustrate the crucifixion of Christ. I would imagine that any recipients of this flowery sermon who didn't wholeheartedly embrace its meaning might have been crucified themselves, given the inquisitory attitudes of the times. oke:  I remember hearing this story eons ago but had to refresh my memory via Wikipedia h*XX*p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passion_flower



When I was in my late teens I asked a produce department employee at my local grocery store to tell me how passionfruit is supposed to be prepared and eaten? He was an idiot and snickered at me a lot while trying to come up with an answer "on the fly". He clearly thought that I was planning a "hot date" for that evening and wanted to spice it up with this exotic fruit. Duh! Finally, I'd had enough of his childish innuendo and snickering at me. I explained to him that Passion fruit comes from the Passion flower, a group of vining, flowering and fruiting plants collectively called Passiflora and it's name losely refers to the passion of Christ! After all that juvenile snickering and "nudge, nudge - wink, wink" behaviour, he turned beet red and practically ran for the "employees only" exit!


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## Leo Schordje (Jan 17, 2010)

John, that is a funny story, very true that the Passiflora were first described and illustrated by over zealous Spanish Catholic priests that were converting the natives at the point of the sword throughout 16th century central and south america. 

It surprises me that this plant is not more common in cultivation. According to everything I have read about it, it is moderately common in the wilds of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana & eastern coastal Texas. It may be that many examples found tend to be more greenish than yellow. This is a nicely colored clone, and it seems easy to grow. I have started a batch of cuttings of lutea this week. Hopefully they will root. If they do I will let the forum know.


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## John M (Jan 17, 2010)

Leo Schordje said:


> I have started a batch of cuttings of lutea this week. Hopefully they will root. If they do I will let the forum know.



Good man!

Question: If they're so common in the wild, you'd think that they set fruit easily; but, mine never did set fruit. Are they self-infertile? And, if one was able to locate 2 different clones and cross them, are the fruit edible? I know that only some species have edible fruit.


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## Leo Schordje (Jan 17, 2010)

*Correction on name Passiflora citrina*



John M said:


> Question: If they're so common in the wild, you'd think that they set fruit easily; but, mine never did set fruit. Are they self-infertile? And, if one was able to locate 2 different clones and cross them, are the fruit edible? I know that only some species have edible fruit.



I have not personally seen lutea in the wild, common might not be the best word, but they occur frequently enough that they are not on federal endangered & threatened species lists. In Pennsylvania it is listed, but not in Florida or the more southern states. 

John, you got me to hit search engines in order to verify some off the wall comments I was going to make. Bingo - I found a problem. I do not have _Passiflora lutea_, the plant I have is *Passiflora citrina* (MacDougal 1989) a small growing species from Honduras & eastern Guatemala. It is believed to be hummingbird pollinated. The leaves were the tip off, Passiflora lutea has trilobed leaves where the middle lobe is equal or longer than the side lobes. _Passiflora citrina_ has bilobed leaves, or trilobed with the central lobe significantly smaller than the side lobes. I am going to have to go back and change labels and file names for images. It is easy to see how this would happen, the names have similar meanings, and could easily be confused in conversation. I brought home an unlabelled cutting and relied on the recollection of the conversation to tag my plant. Learn new things every day.


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## KyushuCalanthe (Jan 17, 2010)

Leo Schordje said:


> Really !!! :evil:



REALLY?


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## John M (Jan 19, 2010)

Leo Schordje said:


> John, you got me to hit search engines in order to verify some off the wall comments I was going to make. Bingo - I found a problem. I do not have _Passiflora lutea_, the plant I have is *Passiflora citrina* (MacDougal 1989) a small growing species from Honduras & eastern Guatemala. It is believed to be hummingbird pollinated. The leaves were the tip off, Passiflora lutea has trilobed leaves where the middle lobe is equal or longer than the side lobes. _Passiflora citrina_ has bilobed leaves, or trilobed with the central lobe significantly smaller than the side lobes. I am going to have to go back and change labels and file names for images. It is easy to see how this would happen, the names have similar meanings, and could easily be confused in conversation. I brought home an unlabelled cutting and relied on the recollection of the conversation to tag my plant. Learn new things every day.



Uh, well.....it's always nice to have the correct name, especially for a species. 'Glad that I could be of help! :rollhappy:  

So, this is a true tropical....I guess that's why my plant died in the freeze. It wasn't a hard freeze. The temp inside the greenhouse went down to only -1*C; but, it was enough to kill most of my tropical orchids and tender tropical house plants, like my pot of this Passiflora.


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## Leo Schordje (Jan 19, 2010)

John M said:


> Uh, well.....it's always nice to have the correct name, especially for a species. 'Glad that I could be of help! :rollhappy:
> 
> So, this is a true tropical....I guess that's why my plant died in the freeze. It wasn't a hard freeze. The temp inside the greenhouse went down to only -1*C; but, it was enough to kill most of my tropical orchids and tender tropical house plants, like my pot of this Passiflora.



I went to the internet in part because I was trying to check just how cold _P. lutea_ would tolerate. That's when I saw foliage photos. _P. lutea_ flowers are much more green than _P. citrina_. I also realized I had mistated that I was the one to make the tag. The pot had a tag in it, and the tag (as _lutea_) was from the University of North Carolina, Botany Greenhouse. Yep, even the Botany Department got the label goofed up. I had visited on the weekend of their Fund raiser, and had bought it then. Still I see it as an easy mistake to make, when trying to remember a name to put on a label, to confuse _lutea_ for citrina, both essentially mean _yellow_. 

I also went to the net to check on edibility. As best I can tell, none of the _Passiflora_ are poisonous, but some are not as palatable as others. A couple species have cyanogenic glycosides which make them unpleasant to eat. The amount of cyanide released would not be enough to poison a human, but they will make the fruit less than tasty. The foliage of some _Passiflora_ have a number of interesting chemicals. Apparently the leaves of _P. incarnata_ contain a fairly strong MAOI. Its folk medicine use is to make a mild sedative tea. _Passiflora_ also have a good number of flavinoids, some fairly strong anti-oxidants. Worth a read if anyone gets interested. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passiflora


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