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.