Passiflora suberosa

What to Eat

Edible parts: Fruit

Fruit - raw. The pulp surrounding the seeds is eaten. An agreeable flavour.The globose to ovoid, blue-black fruit is around 6 - 15mm in diameter.

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. It grows in dry tropical coastal areas. In tropical Queensland it grows to 600 m altitude. In Yunnan.

Africa, America, Anguilla, Argentina, Asia, Australia, Bahamas, Brazil*, British Indian Ocean Terr., BIOT, Caribbean, Central America*, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, East Africa, Fiji, Galapagos Islands, Guianas, Haiti, Indochina, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesser Antilles*, Maldives, Mexico, North America, Pacific, Paraguay, SE Asia, South Africa, Southern Africa, South America, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Turks & Caicos, Uganda, USA, Venezuela, Vietnam, West Indies*,

How to Identify

A climbing vine. It has wiry stems. The older stems have pale corky bark. The tendrils are in the axils of the leaves. The leaves can have 3 lobes. The central lobe is usually the largest. The flowers are small and yellow. They are in the axils of leaves. They are 8-30 mm across. The flowers have 5 petals. The berries are 1 cm across. There are several seeds inside.

How to Grow

Passiflora suberosa has a very wide native dristribution, from the warm temperate zone of southern S. America, through the tropical regions to the warm temperate zone of southern N. America, and can be found from sea level to 2,000 metres or more. Plants, at least from parts of its range, are tolerant of light and short-lived frosts. Moist, well-drained sandy or limestone soils, with or without humusy top layer. Prefers soils with organic content, but will still grow reasonably well in nutrient poor soils. Can tolerate moderate amounts of salt wind without injury. Established plants are very drought tolerant. The plant is a locally established weed in many tropical countries. It is an aggressive weed, which may smother the natural vegetation. It does best in the subcanopy layers where it smothers shrubs, small trees and the ground layer; though in some areas it also smothers the upper canopy layer. It is considered an invasive weed in some countries, such as South Africa, where it is listed as harmful, and as such is subject to eradication practices. The fruits have many seeds that are dispersed by fruit-eating birds.

Propagation: Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe along with the pulp which will help break down the seed coat and speed up germination. Stored seed should be soaked for 24 hours in warm water and germination time can be reduced if the seed is then mixed with the juice of a fresh passion fruit (of any species). Even so, it can take 12 months for stored seed to germinate. Place the seed tray in a shady position, maintaining a temperature around 19 - 24°c. Prick the seedlings out into individual containers as soon as they are large enough to handle and plant out when large enough. Cuttings of young shoots, taken at the nodes. The cuttings root best in a neutral to slightly acid compost, but 100% sharp sand also produces good results. Cuttings of fully mature wood taken at a node. They can take 3 months. Layering. Very easy. Air layering.

Medicinal Uses

A leaf decoction is applied externally to treat urticaria and itch. A root decoction is taken to induce menstruation and to treat hysteria. A decoction of the plant, mixed with either a pinch of salt or with a decoction of young leaves of Momordica charantia, is taken to treat indigestion. The aerial parts of the plant contain simple indole alkaloids, tannins, coumarines, sterols, terpenes and the cyanogenic glycosides passisuberosin and epipassisuberosin. The fruits contain several anthocyanins.

Other Uses

The plant can be used to cover the ground, especially when growing in semi-shade.

Passiflora suberosa is a species of passionflower that is native to the Americas. It is commonly known as corkystem passionflower due to the corkiness of older stems. Other common names include corky passion vine, cork-bark passion flower, corkstem passionflower and corky passionfruit. In Latin America it is called Meloncillo. It is possibly also cryptic and have multiple species in one.

Notes

There are about 400 Passiflora species. It has become self sown in some warm temperate coastal places. It can be invasive.

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