Passiflora foetida L.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Passifloraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Passiflora foetida L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Scarcely woody, pilose vine, 3-5 m long. Leaf blades with a strong fetid smell, 6-12 x 6-11.5 cm, deeply 3-lobed, chartaceous, softly pubescent on both surfaces, the margins crenate to serrulate, the lobes elliptic to nearly ovate, with acute or acuminate apex, the base nearly cordate; petioles 2-5.5 cm long, pilose, glandless; stipules ovate, deeply dissected, with numerous marginal glands, ca. 3 mm long. Flowers ascending, solitary on long peduncles in leaf axils, subtended by an involucre of 3 persistent, deeply dissected bracts to 4 cm long, with numerous marginal glands; peduncle slender, 1.5-5 cm long, pilose, with a few glandular hairs. Sepals oblong, greenish, whitish within, 2-2.5 cm long, with a green dorsal keel that projects beyond the obtuse apex; petals oblong, white, 2-2.5 cm long; corona multiseriate, the inner series of segments violet at lower half; gynophore cylindrical, greenish, reddish-mottled, ca. 7 mm long; stamens 5, ascending at nearly 45°; ovary ellipsoid, green, sparsely pilose, the styles pilose, curved-reflexed, the stigmas capitate. Fruit a papery to leathery berry, widely ovoid, 1.5-2.5 cm long, turning from green to bright orange, the bracts persistent but falling when fruit fully mature. Seeds numerous, oblong to wedge-shaped, truncate at both ends, pitted, ca. 5 mm long, covered with a juicy yellow aril.

  • Discussion

    Common names: love in the mist, pap bush.

  • Distribution

    A common weedy species from open disturbed, dry areas. Chocolate Hole (A772), Cruz Bay (A 1948). Populations on St. John seem to belong in Passiflora foetida var. gossypifolia (Ham.) Mast., which is a common variety throughout tropical America. The species was reported for St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola by Britton and Wilson (1924) without reference to variety. Passiflora foetida var. hispida (DC.) Killip ex Gleason has been collected on St. Thomas (A5186).

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