wild passion flower vine

Are the fruits of wild passion flower vines edible? I have several vines that have come up and have those beautiful purple flowers and have put on several fruits. The fruits are kind of round, a little smaller than a kiwi, and right now they are green. How do you tell when they are ripe?

Thanks, Gloria

Reply to
Gloria
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Yes they are edible (called "maypops") but I've never actually seen them so I don't know how to tell when they're ripe. Maybe the color changes a little, or they soften a bit, or start to smell fruity.

Bob

Reply to
zxcvbob

I've been watching some on my back 40, and they've been doing great this year. They're about as big as oranges this year, but they're not ripe yet. The problem is that plenty of wildlife likes them too, so when they start to ripen, they disappear quickly. I do like the smell of them. They will stay green even after they ripen, though.

Reply to
The Watcher

Reply to
gregpresley

Gloria, here are items i have collected regarding Passion Flowers that may or may not be of interest to you, some of it coming from folks in this group who i think are very knowledgeable and don't think they will mind me having copied and putting it here again. "Addictions; headaches; sedative ~~~

8/6/94leo said:

few days and wondered whether it would be best to tincture or just dry and maybe powder??? Also which should be used young or mature leaves? I sometimes have difficulty going to sleep especially when the NSAIDS are not working and thought it might be nice to have a cup of hot tea to ease me off to sleep.. think i will trot in and try it out tonight with the blossoms. I don't know how it tastes yet as haven't tried before with just the Passion Flower alone.

Leo: Depending on how much passionflower vine you have, go ahead and harvest any and all above-ground parts, including flowers and leaves. If your plant is small, take the flowers and newer leaves at the ends of the vines and leave the older parts of the vines to sprout new growth. Just dry it and use as tea. I would not powder it -- doesn't seem to be as active that way. You could also make a tincture, which is really nice to have year round. This is one of my favorites! --Susan in La Florida ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Subject: Re: Passion Flower? Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 07:15:14 GMT.. From: snipped-for-privacy@saunalahti.fi (Henriette Kress) On Wed, 21 Jul 1999 00:16:42 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@hotbot.com wrote in alt.folklore.herbs:

All of them. Henriette ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

***FYI, from:
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"Many herbalists recommend using only professionally prepared remedies; another species, Passiflora caerula, contains cyanide,and there is some fear that this may be used instead." ~~~~~~~ PASSIFLORA (Passionflower) Antispasmodic and muscle relaxant for neurogenic pain, agitation, insomnia; arterial sedative, especially in EHT in the strong, sthenic middle-aged patient. WHOLE HERB. Tincture [Fresh Plant 1:2, Dry Herb, 1:5, 50% alcohol] 1/2 to 1 1/2 teaspoon to 3x a day. CONTRA: Bradycardia, hypotension, major sedatives. [From HERBAL TINCTURES IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, 3.0 Copyright 1996 by Michael Moore.] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PASSIFLORA, PASSION FLOWER:
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incarnata (Passifloraceae) HISTORY AND USES: Passiflora is natural from the north America. Its name comes from its beautiful flowers, thought to represent Christ's crucifixion - 5 stamens for the 5 wounds, 3 styles for the 3 nails and white and purple-blue colors for purity and heaven. The herb has valuable sedative and tranquilizing properties and has a long use as a medicine in Central and North American herbal traditions, being taken in Mexico for insomnia epilepsy and hysteria. The leaves are an ingredient in many pharmaceutical products to treat nervous disorders such as heart palpitations, anxiety, convulsions and sometimes high blood pressure. It is also used to prevent spasms from whooping cough, asthma and other diseases.

MAIN PROPERTIES: Anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, hypotensive sedative, tranquilizing. ~~~~~~~~~ Subject: Re: Attracting butterflies Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 From: mr byrd Newsgroups: austin.gardening Check out this excerpt from ransomgardens.com:

Basic Passionflower Care by Sally Ransom: Passionflowers are generally very easy to care for. They prefer full sun and very good drainage. These beautiful vines are versatile and can be grown either in the ground or in a pot. Many do very well in a 10" pot. However, if you wish to control the size of your potted passionflower you can do so by varying the size of the pot. A small pot produces a medium or small plant, while a large pot produces a large plant. On the other hand, some passionflowers can easily grow up to 50 feet in length if planted in the ground and would need pruning to control the size. Be careful to avoid over-watering. passionflowers do not like to be waterlogged. This condition can kill the plant.

Growing from Seed : Many passionflowers can be grown easily from seed. For best results, use the nick-and-soak method. Use a fine grade sandpaper or a nail file to carefully sand down a small part of the seed coat or use a fingernail clipper to nick the side of the seed coat. Next, soak the seed in warm water for 24 hours. A thermos bottle can help to retain the water's warm temperature or you could change the water whenever it becomes cool. After the seed has been soaked, sow it in a soiless mixture and cover lightly. Sown seeds should be kept in a warm, brightly lit spot and the planting medium should be kept moist not wet. Sowing the seeds with passionflower pulp can also aid germination, as the acid in the pulp will help to break down the seed coat. However, Passionflower seed germination rates vary. Some sprouts appear in two weeks, some in a year.

Flowers: Keep in mind that almost all passionflowers are perennials and being so, some plants must be at least one year old before they flower. If you feel the need to fertilize, a balanced fertilizer will do (such as 14-14-14). Sometimes adding compost helps, too. For the most part, an established plant will flower readily. Unfortunately, each bloom will last only one day. A few things that can hinder flowering are over-watering, low light, or a root-bound condition.

Fruit: Aside from its beautiful flowers, passionflowers are also prized for their delicious fruit. For a Passionflower to set fruit, the flower must be pollinated. Should your vine be visited by flying insects often, these visitors will most likely pollinate the flowers for you. If this is not the case then you may have to hand-pollinate flowers. This is a quick and simple process. You can use a paintbrush or cotton swab to transfer the pollen from the stamen to the stigmas, or you can snip a stamen and use tweezers to hold it and wipe the pollen onto the stigmas. If your flower remains attached to the vine after it has closed the next day, then it has most likely been pollinated. A flower that has fallen to the ground after it has closed is not pollinated. Fruit will typically develop over a few months. A ripe fruit will have changed from it's initial color and fallen from the vine. ---© Ransom Gardens,

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~~~~~~~~~~ Passionflower Passiflora incarnata Other Names: Maypops, Apricot-vine, Passiflore rouge, Passionsblume, Purple Passion-flower, Passion Vine

Habitat: (Passiflora incarnata) Eastern N. American native perennial vine. Virginia and Kentucky, south to Florida and Texas. Found growing in sandy thickets and open fields, roadsides, fence rows and waste places. Cultivation: Passionflower is easily cultivated through root division or by seed, transplants from the wild do well, it requires a well-drained soil, sandy slightly acid soil in full sun. A trellis should be provided, since it is a tendril climbing vine. Passionflower has many beautiful large and aromatic flowers, it grows very quickly and produces edible fruit and medicinal uses. It has large three lobed serrated leaves with beautifully intricate purple and white sweet-scented flowers that are from 2 to 3 inches across. Flowers bloom from June to August. The passion fruit, when ripe is yellow-green and the size of a small hen's egg. The yellow pulp is sweet and edible. Gather the herb, above ground after some of the fruit have matured, dry for later use. Gather edible fresh, juicy, fruit when soft and light yellow-green.

Properties: Passionflower is edible and medicinal. Delicious edible (high in niacin), the fruit and flowers can be eaten raw or cooked in jellies, jams, young leaves are used as a cooked vegetable or eaten in salads. There is scientific evidence of the medicinal constituents of this herb. Recent studies have pointed to the flavonoids in passion flower as the primary constituents responsible for its relaxing and antianxiety effects. Some of the plants constituents, Apigenin, Luteolin, Kaempferol, and Quercetin, are being studied and showing promise in fighting Parkinson's Disease, Cancer, HIV, Leukemia, and more. The leaves and stems are medicinal used as antispasmodic, astringent, diaphoretic, hypnotic, narcotic, sedative, vasodilator and are also used in the treatment of women's complaints. Passionflower is used as an alternative medicine in the treatment of insomnia, nervous tension, irritability, neuralgia, irritable bowel syndrome, premenstrual tension and vaginal discharges. An infusion of the plant depresses the motor nerves of the spinal cord, making it very valuable in the treatment of back pain. The infusion is also sedative, slightly reduces blood pressure and increases respiratory rate. The herb contains alkaloids and flavonoids that are an effective non-addictive sedative that does not cause drowsiness. It is of great service in epilepsy. The plant is not recommended for use during pregnancy. The dried herb is much exported from America to Europe for use as an alternative medicine.

Folklore: The name Passionflower refers to the passion of Christ: the

3 stamens represent his wounds, and the 12 petals represent the apostles. Passion fruit is sweet and aromatic, in fact, the fruit is used in Hawaiian Punch for flavor.

TRY THESE RECIPES: Medicinal tea: To 1 tbsp. dried herb add 1 cup boiling water steep for

10 min. drink at bedtime for restlessness. Quite flavorful and aromatic.---Article by Deb Jackson & Karen Shelton ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From: paghat ( snipped-for-privacy@netscape.net)Subject: Re: Passion Flower, no fruitDate: 2004-07-07 "Jimmy G" wrote:> My passion flower vine is quite prolific in producing flowers, however they never set fruit....>>>>

I've read that SOME passion flowers simply will not produce fruit without cross-pollinating with another vine from a separate cloned strain, but that this trait varies from strain to strain, some being fully self-fertile. Passiflora hahnii invariably requires an unrelated clone to pollinate it, & P. murucuja is very curiously induced to self-pollinate only when an unrelated clone attempts to pollinate it. The two species that are most apt to self-pollinate are P. incarnata & the most commonly grown P. caerulea, but it is never a sure thing & a for some strains a different clone may be needed. -paghat the ratgirl ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~" BTW.. my vine is in its second year, has been putting out a dozen to 2 dozen flowers daily (they only last one day each)since late July, and i can find only one fruit. It is still small and very green. Leo

"Gloria" wrote in message news:...

Reply to
Lee

For informative dispensatory information about Passionvine, see

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at Kings American Dispensatory,
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a complilation of 751 plants from the early 1900's. (a really cool website)

J. Kolenovsky

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Gloria wrote:

Reply to
J Kolenovsky

Hi Lee,

It may seem odd that I'm dredging up a dead thread, but I just foun this by way of Google, and it seems to be the best and most thoroug information I've found so far. *gratuitous applause*

So anyway...I just got a bitty little Coral Glow this weekend with th intention of letting it fully taking over my apartment balcony. She' just lovely. And I was even happier to find out, after I bought it that passionflower has medicinal uses. (Did not know that!)

My question is this: I know that Coral Glow is a hybrid, but I've see it classified here and there* as a type of caerulea...or at leas that's what it seems. Is it -really- a type of caerulea? If it is, I' feel much more hesitant about using it for tea or tinctures. I'd hat to drift off to sleep only to wake up dead. ;)

Do I have cause for worry? Should I just buy myself a little incarnat or edulis and play it safe?

Any further info you may have would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Amanda

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    amandabird
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amandabird

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