PURPLE PASSIONFRUIT (Passiflora edulis) 20 seeds

Passiflora edulis, known as the Purple Passionfruit, is a climbing plant with edible fruit. This variety of passionfruit is the more common purple form and there is a yellow-fruited form called Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa.  It is thought that it originated in Brazil.

The passion fruit is a vigorous, climbing vine that clings by tendrils to almost any support. It can grow 5-6 metres per year once established and must have strong support.

The evergreen leaves of passion fruit are alternate, deeply 3-lobed when mature and finely toothed. They are 8-20 cm  long, deep green and glossy above, paler and dull beneath and, like the young stems and tendrils, tinged with red or purple, especially in the yellow form.

A single, fragrant flower, 5-7cm 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 nearly round or ovoid fruit, 3cm to 8cm wide, has a tough rind that is smooth and waxy and ranging in hue from brown to purple in colour. Within is a cavity more or less filled with an aromatic mass of double walled, membranous sacs containing orange-colored, pulpy juice and as many as 250 small, hard, dark brown or black, pitted seeds. The unique flavor is appealing, musky, guava-like and sweet/tart to tart.  The vine, especially the yellow form, is fast-growing and will begin to bear in 1 to 3 years. Ripening occurs 70 to 80 days after pollination.

This passion fruit is subtropical and prefers a frost-free climate with adequate moisture for the formation of good sized fruit.

For sale is a packet of 20 fresh seeds.

ALL SEED PACKAGES COME WITH A SET OF SEED PROPAGATION INSTRUCTIONS.