June Native Plant of the Month

Passiflora incarnata will stop you in your tracks the first time you see it. The whimsical flowers are large and eccentric, resembling something from the pages of Dr. Seuss.

The vining foliage is pretty in its own right and even without flowers adds to any fence or trellis. One the blooms appear, you have something truly magical. In Florida, we are lucky enough to call this native plant our own.

Passionflower grows throughout most of the state and does so with ease. Without the blooms, it's less recognizeable, but the distinctive leaves can be found shooting from underground rhizomes throughout the woods here in Florida. They readily propagate either by seed, cutting, rhizome, or air layering.

In addtion to its beauty, passionflower is beneficial to many insects. It is a larval host for gulf fritillary and zebra longwing butterflies. The latter of which is our state butterfly. It is also a host plant for adult crimson patch longwing, red hairstreak, and Julia butterflies. It provides fruit for wildlife and nectar for carpenter and bumble bees as well as hummingbirds.

The fruit is edible for humans as well. The fruit is ripe when it begins to wrinkle. The flavor is tropical and sweet with a little bit of tartness. It is full of seeds in gelationous sacs that can be off-putting. It can be easier to simply swallow the seeds with the fruit. It also makes an awesome juice or smoothy if strained.

As for its name, it is said to represent the passion of Jesus Christ. The intricate details of the flower were used as a teaching tool. The tendrils represented the whips that were used on Jesus while the lobed leaves were said to resemble the spear that stabbed His side. The 10 petals and sepals stand for the 10 faithful apostles (poor Peter). The five anthers symbolize the 5 sacred wounds and the three stigma the nails used to crucify Him. The crown of thorns is shown in the distinct corona and filaments. And there you have it - the passion.