Purple Passionflower Fruit

Description:

Purple passionflower is a fast-growing perennial vine with climbing or trailing stems. A member of the passionflower genus Passiflora, the maypop has large, intricate flowers with prominent styles and stamens. One of the hardiest species of passionflower, it is a common wildflower in the southern United States. This spotting shows the fleshy fruit, also referred to as a maypop. It is an oval yellowish berry about the size of a hen egg; it is green at first, but then becomes orange as it matures.

Habitat:

This one was growing on the banks of constructed ponds at Phinizy Swamp Nature Park near Augusta (Richmond County), GA.

Notes:

Common names include maypop, purple passionflower, true passionflower, wild apricot, and wild passion vine. The Cherokee in the Tennessee area called it ocoee; the Ocoee River and valley are named after this plant, which is the Tennessee State Wildflower. This, and other passionflowers are the exclusive larval host plants for the Gulf Fritillary and non-exclusive for the Variegated Fritillary butterflies. Traditionally, the fresh or dried whole plant has been used as a herbal medicine to treat nervous anxiety and insomnia. A small clinical study suggested that in the form of a tea it may improve the subjective quality of sleep. he dried, ground herb is frequently used in Europe by drinking a teaspoon of it in tea. A sedative chewing gum has even been produced. In cooking, the fruit of this variety is sometimes used for jam and jellies or as a substitute for its commercially grown South American relative Passiflora edulis – the fruit is of comparable size and juice yield. The fruit can be eaten out of hand and historically it was a favorite of colonial settlers of the South and Native Americans alike.