Purple passion flower

If you love to stroll through the Ron Sapp Egans Creek Greenway, you may have noticed a very special vine with an incredibly unusual flower. The purple passion flower is a native perennial (dies back each winter) in Florida and the Southeast. This vine crawls over and hangs from other vegetation on the side of the trails in the greenway. Another name for our local variety is maypop, which derives from the fact that if you step on the fruit it “may pop”!

To fully appreciate this flower, one needs to stop and really take it all in. Starting from the outside of the flower, there are 10 reflexed white to light lavender petals. Overlaying the petals are curly hair-like filaments that start off white, become banded in purple and white, then end in solid lavender. Five prominent stamens (male parts) and three distinct, top-spreading stigmas (female parts) stand proudly in the center of the flower. Colors vary with different varieties and species in a beautiful display of creativity!

The maypop fruit is green and grows to the size and shape of an egg. When the fruit is ripe, the surface of the fruit will become slightly pitted and wrinkled. The inside of a ripe maypop fruit has yellowish pulp with black seeds. The pulp inside is edible, but I have never come across it at the right time in the greenway to try it.

Passion vines are host plants for several local species of butterflies, including the variegated fritillary, the zebra longwing, and the gulf fritillary, which lay their eggs exclusively on these vines. Their emerging caterpillars grow to maturity eating the passion vine leaves. The passion vines in my yard attract butterflies and provide food for their caterpillars. I enjoy watching the butterflies fly in and lay their eggs on the vine, and I love sharing the leaves with the caterpillars, who eat them with a passion!

I have planted passion fruit vines bought from the nursery and I have also grown vines from seeds I brought home from California. Both have been very successful, covering large sections of my fence in one season. Unfortunately, I have had to hand-pollinate the flowers, or they do not produce fruit; possibly a lack of pollinators in my neighborhood?

In California, passion fruit vines are common, covering entire fences around people’s properties. Passion fruit is also grown commercially on the West Coast, where it grows year-round and never dies back due to the mild winters. Fruit is typically ready to harvest around November, but I have seen some vines continuously produce fruit which is purple, and the edible pulp is bright orange, with black seeds.

Over 60 varieties of passion vines produce edible fruit, and 95% of these are found in Mexico and Central America. In these countries, a favorite local beverage is called agua de maracuja, made from yellow passion fruit. The pulp inside the fruit is collected; the seeds are separated, blended, or included. A little sweetener is added to make a tangy-sweet, wonderful, refreshing drink.

The drink is served with or without the seeds, which are edible. The seeds are fibrous and help clean your digestive tract, preventing constipation and promoting gut health. The pulp, combined with the seeds, contains vitamins A, C, and E, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, and iron. They also contain a powerhouse of antioxidants such as polyphenols, particularly piceatannol, which helps protect against cell damage, reduces inflammation, and aids in metabolic health.

I have always been impressed with the passion flower’s intricacy, striking beauty, and interesting display. More recently, I have fallen in love with the taste of the pulp, eaten straight from the fruit with a spoon, in agua de maracuja, or poured over vanilla ice cream. The best part is that the pulp and seeds are extremely good for you. This is a medicinal food, regarded throughout history for relieving anxiety, aiding sleep, managing pain, alleviating menopause symptoms, relaxing muscles, and improving digestion. Nature is amazing!

To read more about harvesting wild maypop, see Our Frugal Florida Homestead.