Description

Passion fruit, is a vine species of flowering plant native to southern Brazil through Paraguay and northern Argentina. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for its sweet, seedy fruit. The fruit is a pepo, a type of berry, round to oval, either yellow or dark purple at maturity, with a soft to firm, juicy interior filled with numerous seeds. The fruit is both eaten and juiced, the juice often added to other fruit juices to enhance aroma.

Characteristics:

The passion fruit is a vigorous, climbing vine that clings by tendrils to almost any support. It can grow 15 to 20 ft. per year once established and must have strong support. It is generally short-lived (5 to 7 years). The evergreen leaves of passion fruit are alternate, deeply 3-lobed when mature and finely toothed. They are 3 to 8 inches long, deep green and glossy above, paler and dull beneath and, like the young stems and tendrils, tinged with red or purple, specially in the yellow form. A single, fragrant flower, 2 to 3 inches wide, is born at each node on the new growth. The bloom, clasped by 3 large, green, lifelike bracts, consists of 5 greenish-white sepals, 5 white petals and a fringelike corona of straight, white-tipped rays, rich purple at the base. It also has 5 stamens with large anthers, the ovary and triple-branched style forming a prominent central structure. The passion fruit is round to oval, yellow or dark purple at maturity, with a soft to firm, juicy interior filled with numerous seeds. The fruit can be grown to eat or for its juice, which is often added to other fruit juices to enhance aroma. The unique flavor is appealing, musky, guava-like and sweet/tart to tart. Passion fruit is cultivated commercially for its fruit in northwestern South America, India, the Caribbean, Brazil, southern Florida, Hawaii, Australia, East Africa, Israel and South Africa.

Medicinal Uses:

The pulp of the fruit is stimulant and tonic. The flower of passion fruit has a mild sedative and can be use to induce sleep. Passion fruit flowers have been used in treatment for the nervous system in easily excited children, bronchial asthma, insomnia, nervous gastrointestinal disorders and menopausal problems. The flower is sometimes used as a mild hallucinogen.