Passiflora murucuja L.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.
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Family
Passifloraceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Description - Slightly woody vine, glabrous, attaining 2-5 m in length and elimbs by means of axillary tendrils. Stems angular, striate. Leaves alternate, bilobate (in the form of a boomerang), with the lateral lobes 1.5-2 times longer than the apex, these up to 4 cm long, rounded and retuse at the apex, forming an angle of divergence of 108-160° between them (sometimes the central apex projecting like a small lobe), chartaceous, with 3 main veins from the base, the base cuneate, obtuse, or rounded, the margins entire; upper surface dull, glabrous; lower surface pale green, dull, glabrous, with prominent venation and a line of circular glands along the acroscopic side of the lobes; petioles 1-1.5 cm long, glabrous, without glands; stipules linear-filiform, 2-4 mm long; tendrils simple. Flowers solitary or in pairs, axillary; peduncle 1-2.5 cm long, glabrous, articulated below the middle; bracts minute, below the articulation of the peduncle. Calyx tubular, brilliant red, 3-4 cm long, the sepals oblong, connate at the base; petals long-deltate, brilliant red, 1-2 cm long; corona tubular, brilliant red, 1-1.5 cm long, crenate or entire at the apex; stamens 5; ovary ovoid, glabrous. Fruit a fleshy berry, globose, 1-1.5 cm in diameter, black-purple when ripe. Seeds numerous, ovate, transversely sulcate, ca. 2.5 mm long.
Phenology - Flowering and fruiting throughout the year.
Conservation Status - Native, extremely rare in Puerto Rico.