Maypop - Passiflora Incarnata

[boiledpeanut]

Hi everyone

does anyone here have experience with passiflora incarnata aka maypops?


I've had passionfruit flavored things but have yet to have eaten one of the native passionfruits on the USA. When we commonly think of passionfruit we are thinking of passiflora edulis (purple passionfruit).
The Natives used to use parts of p. incarnata supposedly also have a calming effect (some debate exists whether it was just the roots or leaves and stems as well).
Its also a good host plant for several caterpillars.
chestnutherbs.com/passionflower-ecology-cultivation-botany-and-medicinal-and-edible-uses/

I got seeds from a variety of sources, I'll probably sprout as many as I can

[heavyhitterokra]

Be careful where you plant those seeds. They are vining and semi-invasive around here. I mean, they can be controlled by mowing, but will take over an unattended area, dwarf fruit trees and all.

The pulp from the Passiflora incarnata seeds is edible at a certain time during the summer season. The trouble is guessing when.

I've cut a number of them open, thinking they'd be ripe, only to find white, pithy, stinky seeds inside. When they're ripe, the seeds have a clear, gelatinous goo encasing them and a pleasant odor. I don't know if the seeds are edible, but the goo encasing them is. (The ripe insides of the passiflora incarnata sort of resemble the clear insides around the seeds of a slightly over-ripe cucumber). The taste is a cross between tangy and slightly sweet. The goo has a good flavor. To eat it, you put the seeds in your mouth and suck the goo off, then spit the seeds out. Much as if eating the red pulp off of ripe bitter melon seeds.  (I've never eaten the outer flesh, so I can't say one way or another about that).

I suppose you could hand-harvest the goo, en masse, by placing the seeds on a screen and rubbing them free of the encasement, but I've never tried that.

Roman Catholic priests of the late 1500's in the Americas, named the Passiflora Encarnata plant for the Passion (suffering, death, and resurrection) of Jesus Christ. They believed that several parts of the plant, including the petals, rays, stigma, anther, and sepals, symbolized features of the Passion.  For example, the 3,5, pattern of the anther and stigma of the flower; the 3 represents the Trinity, the 5 represents the Pentecost, the purple color of the ray like petals represents the Royal Robe that Jesus wore to the cross, the rays represent the glory of Christ, the white represents the purity of Christ.  There is a part that represents the nails, and so on. If for no other reason, I grow these plants each year, just for the flowers and what they represent.

I haven't used them medicinally.  I just snack on the pulp sparingly, in case there is an effect that I'm not aware of. 

[boiledpeanut]

Yes, I was just talking to a nursery man who was telling me how invasive the lil suckers (non botanical meaning here lol) can be!
I think I'm going to try container and trellis culture and see how that goes.
There are far more resources for processing widely known purple passionfruit over maypops so I'll just appropriate some tips from those.
I've heard they should be eaten they're all wrinkly.

Here's a link on making passionfruit juice www.attainable-sustainable.net/passion-fruit-juice/
and jelly: www.attainable-sustainable.net/lilikoi-passion-fruit-jelly/

That's a beautiful story, I'd heard the tale but couldn't put 2 and 2 together (the flowers beauty is otherworldly so that was fine for me as I could see how anyone would think the flower is a creation of the divine)

[chrysanthemum]

I grow maypops and some more ornamental passionflowers. The maypops lived through last winter but were all killed back this year because of our February freeze, but I have a huge cluster coming up now from the roots. They’re mostly in a clump, but there are a few that are several feet away. They’re still small right now, just beginning to climb the large cattle panel arched trellis that my husband and I built a couple of years ago to provide shade and beauty. We can see the vines and flowers from our family room, and they attract huge numbers of butterflies, especially Gulf Fritillaries. We’ve enjoyed them, but I could see how their ability to spread could be a problem. Ours are in a somewhat contained area so that helps. I figure that stray vines can be pulled up and put in compost.

I have never noticed much fruit on the maypops. It may be that birds or squirrels get to it before I spot it.

I have heard that there is a purple passion fruit that is hardy to zone 8 (Frederick variety). I’ve considered trying to grow that, but I haven’t taken any action on it.

[boiledpeanut]

@bon I failed my first round of germination this year. The only thing that popped up died this week .
I have more seeds luckily though!

Many people seem to be willing to mail around cuttings, so ask about. The real fun is hunting down 'superior' varieties.
And ofc if I get something good growing i'd be willing to share =) that will be down the road

[heavyhitterokra]

I've never started them from seed. They just grow wild around here and are kind of a nuisance to keep hoed out of my garden.

[chrysanthemum]

I didn’t start from seed either. I got some inexpensive plants from a local nursery.

For my purposes, the maypop is not the best. It doesn’t grow as fast or luxuriantly as the more ornamental variety planted next to it, but it still has a beautiful white and blue/purple flower.  I love for my ornamentals to be edible, but my passionflowers are more just for shade, beauty, and butterflies.



Here’s a photo I took the other day.  The purple (not fruiting) passionflower is on the left.  The maypop is on the right, just starting to hit the trellis.

The other side of the trellis used to have a red variety of passionflower, but it wasn’t hardy enough to survive its first winter, which I didn’t realize when I bought it.  I won’t replant it.  That’s where I put my chayote this year.  I thought I’d include a photo of one of the blooms, though, just because it’s so pretty.

[heavyhitterokra]

chrysanthemum,

That's very pretty. You guys have so much more variety there that we could never dream of at this latitude. But we have more moisture, and more moderate temperatures in summer, so I guess it balances out.

Bon, our soil's pH runs about 5.2 to 5.4 around here, it's a little acidic. My passiflora plant of origin came from a region of dappled shade, but once the seed got into the soil, it took the full sun just fine and excelled there.