Difference between revisions of "Passiflora"

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Read about Passiflora in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Difference between revisions of "Passiflora"

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 Passiflora (i. e., passion flower). Including Disemma and Tacsonia.
 Passifloraceae. PassionFlower. Highly interesting herbs, shrubs, or
 trees, most of the cultivated kinds climbing by means of tendrils,
 with flowers of odd structure; some of them produce edible fruits.
 Mostly vines, but some species erect: lvs. alternate, rarely
 opposite, the petiole usually gland-bearing, the blade entire,
 digitately lobed or parted, stipules sometimes present: tendrils
 (sometimes wanting) lateral, simple: fls. solitary or racemose,
 mostly axillary, on articulated and often 3-bracted peduncles, mostly
 hermaphrodite, with colors in yellow, green, blue and red, often
 large and showy; calyx with short tube (also with long tube when
 Tacsonia is included), the lobes or petals 4 or 5 and narrow, often
 colored inside, bearing on the throat a simple double or triple showy
 fringe or crown; petals 4 or 5 (sometimes wanting, or 3), attached on
 the calyx-throat; stamens 4 or 5, the filaments joined into a tube in
 which is the gynophore or stalk of the ovary, the anthers
 linear-oblong and versatile; ovary oblong or nearly globular, with 3
 styles and 3 many-ovuled parietal placentae: fr. large or small,
 berry-like, many-seeded, oblong or globular; seeds flat, mostly
 ovate, with a fleshy aril.—Species probably 250-300. By some, the
 genus Tacsonia is separated from Passiflora, but it is here combined;
 it differs in having an elongated rather than very short calyx-tube
 or hypanthium; Andean species. See Tacsonia.
 With the exception of a few Malayan, Chinese and Australian species,
 the true passifloras are natives of tropical America, some of them in
 the subtropical and warm temperate parts. Many of them are cultivated
 as curiosities, and some of them for the beauty of their flowers and
 for their festooning foliage. The fruit is of many kinds, in most
+cases not edible. The ovary is supported on a long stalk, which is inclosed in or usually united with the tube formed by the union of the bases of the filaments. The structure of the fruit is well shown in Fig. 2768; the remains of the floral envelopes have broken from the attachment on the torus and rest on the fruit. A dozen passifloras occur in the United States, and one of them, P. lutea, grows naturally as far north as southern Pennsylvania and Illinois. From Virginia south, the Maypop, P. incarnata, is a very common plant in fields and waste places. Both these species are herbaceous perennials.
-cases not edible. The ovary is
-supported on a long stalk, which is inclosed in or usually united
-with the tube formed by the union of the bases of the filaments. The
-structure of the fruit is well shown in Fig. 2768; the remains of the
-floral envelopes have broken from the attachment on the torus and
-rest on the fruit. A dozen passifloras occur in the United States,
-and one of them, P. lutea, grows naturally as far north as southern
-Pennsylvania and Illinois. From Virginia south, the Maypop, P.
-incarnata, is a very common plant in fields and waste places. Both
-these species are herbaceous perennials.
 In cultivation, the passifloras have been considerably hybridized,
 and they are also confused with Tacsonia. In 1871 Masters enumerated
 species (Trans. Linn. Soc. 27), but many species have been
 discovered since that time. Most of the passion-flowers are yellow or
 green in color of envelopes, but there are fine reds in P. racemosa,
 P. Raddiana,P. coccinea, P. alata,P. vitifolia, and others. The
 species known to gardeners are few, although many kinds are or have
 been in cultivation by fanciers and in collections. They usually
 require much rafter room in greenhouses. According to G. W. Oliver,
 P. caerulea and Constance Elliott are both hardy at Washington. Not
 many of the tender species and hybrids are grown to any great extent
 in this country. P. alata and P. quadrangularis are desirable
 climbers for a roomy warm greenhouse. P. quadrangularis var.
 variegata seems to flower quite as freely as the green- leaved one.
 Passifloras are propagated from cuttings of the half-ripened growth,
 with bottom heat. P. racemosa and P. Loudonii are a trifle difficult
 to root from cuttings; the growths should be as ripe as possible for
 this purpose. Keep the under surface of the leaves flat on the sand
 while rooting. The native P. incarnata grows very freely at
 Washington, becoming more or less of a weed and hard to eradicate.
 The peculiar charm of these plants lies in the odd flowers, the parts
 of which were fancied by the early Spanish and Italian travelers to
 represent the implements of the crucifixion (whence both the
 technical and popular names). Legend and superstition have attached
 to these plants from the first. The ten colored parts of the floral
 envelope were thought to represent the ten apostles present at the
 crucifixion, Peter and Judas being absent. Inside the corolla is a
 showy crown or corona of colored filaments or fringes, taken to
 represent the crown of thorns, or by some thought to be emblematic of
 the halo. The stamens are five, to some suggestive of the five
 wounds, by others thought to be emblematic of the hammers which were
 used to drive the three nails, the latter being represented by the
 three styles with capitate stigmas. The long axillary coiling
 tendrils represent the cords or the scourges. The digitate leaves
 suggest the hands of the persecutors. The following sketch of the
 passion-flower legend is from Folkard's "Plant Lore, Legends and
 Lyrics," and the illustration (Fig. 2769) is also produced from that
 book: "The passion-flower (Passiflora caerulea) is a wild flower of
 the South American forests, and it is said that the Spaniards, when
 they first saw the lovely bloom of this plant, as it hung in rich
 festoons from the branches of the forest trees, regarded the
 magnificent blossom as a token that the Indians should be converted
 to Christianity, as they saw in its several parts the emblems of the
 passion of our Lord. In the year 1610, Jacomo Bosio, the author of an
 exhaustive treatise on the Cross of Calvary, was busily engaged on
 this work when there arrived in Rome an Augustmian friar, named
 Emmanuel de Villegas, a Mexican by birth. He brought with him, and
 showed to Bosio, the drawing of a flower so stupenduously marvelous,'
 that he hesitated making any mention of it in his book. However, some
 other drawings and descriptions were sent to him by inhabitants of
 New Spam, and certain Mexican Jesuits, sojourning at Rome, confirmed
 all the astonishing reports of this floral marvel; moreover, some
 Dominicans at Bologna engraved and published a drawing of it,
 accompanied by poems and descriptive essays. Bosio therefore
 conceived it to be his duty to present the Flos Passionis to the
 world as the most wondrous example of the Croce trionfante discovered
 in forest or field. The flower represente, he tells us, not so
 directly the Cross of our Lord, as the past mysteries of the Passion.
 It is a native of the Indies, of Peru, and of New Spain, where the
 Spaniards call it 'the Flower of the Five Wounds," and it had clearly
 been designed by the great Creator that it might, in due time, assist
 in the conversion of the heathen among whom it grows. Alluding to the
 bell-like shape assumed by the flower during the greater part of its
 existence (i.e., whilst it is expanding and fading),Bosio remarks:
 'And it may well be that, in His infinite wisdom, it pleased Him to
 create it thus shut up and protected, as though to indicate that the
 wonderful mysteries of the Cross and of His Passion were to remain
 hidden from the heathen people of those countries until the time
 preordained by His Highest Majesty.' The figure given to the
 Passionflower in Bosio's work shows the crown of thorns twisted and
 plaited, the three nails, and the column of the flagellation just as
 they appear on ecclesiastical banners, etc. 'The upper petals,'
 writes Bosio in his description, 'are tawny in Peru, but in New Spain
 they are white, tinged with rose. The filaments above resemble a
 blood-coloured fringe, as though suggesting the scourge with which
 our blessed Lord was tormented. The column rises in the middle. The
 nails are above it; the crown of thorns encircles the column; and
 close in the center of the flower from which the column rises is a
 portion of a yellow colour, about the size of a reale, in which arc
 five spots or stains of the hue of blood, evidently setting forth the
 five wounds received by our Lord on the Cross. The colour of the
 column, the crown, and the nails is a clear green. The crown itself
 is surrounded by a kind of veil, or very fine hair, of a violet
 colour, the filaments of which number seventy-two, answering to the
 number of thorns with which, according to tradition, our Lord's crown
 was set; and the leaves of the plant, abundant and beautiful, are
 shaped like the head of a lance or pike, referring, no doubt, to that
 which pierced the side of our Savior, whilst they are marked beneath
 with round spots, signifying the thirty pieces of silver.' "
 Passifloras as gardener's ornamental plants.
 (J. J. M. Farrell.)
 These plants constitute a large family or group of evergreen
 climbers. They will show to best advantage when they can be planted
 out permanently in a warm conservatory and where they can have
 comparatively large space to climb. They may also be grown in pots
 when the conditions do not permit other methods of handling.
 Passifloras may be propagated either by cuttings or seeds. They may
 be rooted from young growth taken any time from the middle of January
 until April. These cuttings are placed in a warm propagating-bed, and
 kept shaded and moist, and in a short tune they will root; they are
 also inserted in small pots in a mixture of loam, peat, and sand, in
 equal parts, and plunged in the propagating-bed. When rooted, the
 cuttings are potted off, using a compost of loam four parts, leaf-
 mold two parts, well-rotted cow-manure one part, and which should
 contain enough sand to keep it porous. Keep shaded until they become
 well established, when they may be given a place well up to the glass
 in full sun. The passifloras are also readily raised from seed sown
 in spring, and the plants potted off as soon as big enough.
 The plants will stand a night temperature of 65° to 70°: this can be
 increased until it reaches 80° to 85° for a day temperature with sun.
 Give ventilation daily, taking into account the state of the weather;
 while they like plenty of heat, they will not do well in a stagnant
 atmosphere; therefore, give air on all favorable occasions. Every
 morning in bright weather, give them a good syringing, as this is a
 great aid in keeping them in vigor and supplying the desired
 atmospheric moisture, but this does not mean a very humid atmosphere.
 By pinching, the plants are made to produce several growths. These
 plants can be shifted until they are in 10- or 12-inch pots. The
 growth may be trained on pillars or along rafters of the
 conservatory.
 When planted out in about 8 or 10 inches of soil, passifloras will
 cover a very large space, but sometimes to such an extent as to
 obscure the whole glass. The best place is on a back wall in some
 house where they may ramble at will. Keep well syringed until they
+how flower, when syringing should be discontinued until they are
-show flower, when syringing should be discontinued until they are
 through blooming. After the plants have covered the position allotted
 to them, all that is required is the regulation of the young growth,
 so as to keep them from becoming entangled. In winter they may be cut
 back and the exhausted soil replaced by good rich compost. They will
 not need a high temperature, doing well in 55° to 60° at night. When
 they start off into growth again, keep raising the temperature until
 it has reached the figures already stated. They may now be given
 manure water regularly and throughout the growing season. Keep down
 thrip, red-spider, and mealy-bug by syringing and sponging.
 The edible-fruited passifloras. (F. W. Popenoe.)
 The principal species of Passiflora that are cultivated for their
 fruits in tropical and subtropical regions are P. quadrangularis, the
 granadilla, granadilla real of Costa Rica, barbadine of the French
 colonies, pasion- aria of Cuba, maracuja melao of Brazil; P. edulis,
 also called granadilla, as well as passion-fruit; and P. laurifolia,
 the water-lemon of the British West Indies, pomme-liane of the French
 colonies. While P. quad-rangularis is a common garden plant in
 tropical America, it is not so extensively grown in any region as is
 P. edulis in Australia. In the United States these species can be
 grown only in the warmest regions; in California P. edulis is the
 only one that is successfully cultivated in the open, the other two
 species being much more susceptible to frost; in south Florida all
 three can be grown, although the tropical species are sometimes
 injured by frost.
 The true granadilla (P. quadrangularis) is a strong rapid-growing
 climber, frequently planted for ornament in tropical regions and
 allowed to cover arbors and pergolas. Its brownish yellow ovoid
 fruits are sometimes 8 inches in length, and within the thin brittle
 pericarp is a large number of small flattened seeds surrounded by
 gelatinous pulp and subacid juice. When green, they are sometimes
 boiled and used as a vegetable; when ripe, the acidulous pulp is
 refreshing, and is used to prepare cooling drinks, or is eaten with a
 spoon directly from the fruit.
 The passion-fruit (P. edulis) is considerably smaller than the
 granadilla, rarely larger than a hen's egg, and dull purple when
 ripe. Its pulp is slightly more acid than that of the granadilla, but
 of very pleasant flavor, and highly esteemed in Queensland and New
 South Wales, where the plant is cultivated commercially. It is used
 for flavoring sherbets, for confectionery, for icing cakes, for
 "trifles,"—a dish composed of sponge cake, fruits, cream, and white
 of egg,—for jams, and for other table purposes. The pulp is also
 eaten directly from the fruit, after adding a little sugar, or is
 used to prepare a refreshing drink, by beating it up in a glass of
 ice-water and adding a pinch of bicarbonate of soda. The plants are
 grown on trellises about 6 feet high; at the top of the trellis is
 nailed a crosspiece 18 inches long, from the ends of which are run
 two wires, the long branches being allowed to hang down over these to
 the ground. The rows are placed 15 feet apart, with the vines 15 feet
 apart in the row_. The young plants must be protected in regions
 subject to frost: they begin bearing the second year, sometimes
 producing a few fruits the first season, and continue in profitable
 production four to six years, when they must be renewed.  By proper
 pruning, two crops a year can be secured, in regions not subject to
 frost.  The most suitable soil seems to be sandy loam, although other
 soils will grow the plant successfully.  Manure should be supplied
 liberally.  In Australia, the profits of passion-fruit culture are
 reported to run from $100 to $300 an acre annually.  Because of the
 short life of the vines, they are often planted as a catch-crop in
 young orchards which have not yet come into bearing. Like P. quad-
 rangularis, this species is often grown as an ornamental plant, and
 makes an excellent and rapid-growing cover for fences and trellises.
 The passifloras are easily propagated by seeds or cuttings, the
 latter method being preferable in most cases. Seeds should be removed
 from the fruit, dried in a shady place, and planted in flats of light
 soil. They do not germinate very quickly, but the young plants are
 easily raised, and may be set out in the open ground when six months
 to a year old. Cuttings should be taken from fairly well-matured
 shoots, and should be about 6 inches in length. They are easily
 rooted in sand, no bottom heat being required. Cuttings of P. edulis
 will often fruit in pots at the age of one to two years, and form
 very interesting greenhouse plants. While this species usually fruits
 prolifically, P. quad- rangularis sometimes requires hand-pollination
 when grown outside its native habitat.
                                 INDEX