Passionflower Vine Other Common Names: Purple Passionflower, Purple Passion Vine, Maypop, Apricot Vine Scientific Name: Passiflora incarnata Native to Alabama: Yes
	Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Wynn Anderson   Click on image to enlarge it

 Learn more about...
   

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Basic Plant Information
	I am a climbing or trailing woody stemmed vascular plant, so I am a vine. I do not keep leaves year-round, so I am deciduous. I die back in winter but regrow in spring for many seasons, so I am perennial. I can grow up to 25 feet high and 3 - 6 feet wide.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Wynn Anderson Click on image to enlarge it

 



















 


 

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Ecological Benefits

This plant provides food for:
Butterflies	Caterpillars	Other Pollinators	Other Birds
	Gulf Fritillary, Variegated Fritillary, Zebra Longwing, Banded Hairstreak, Red-banded Hairstreak
Other Ecological Benefits:
Young tendrils are eaten by wild turkey; ants feed on the nectar and help defend the plant from herbivores

Other Plants Found in Alabama with Similar Ecological Benefits:
Yellow Passionflower  (Passiflora lutea)

 

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Maintenance Notes
Dormant in winter. Flowers can be cut for an indoor vase. Vines may be trained onto a trellis, fence, or tree trunk; to encourage bushiness, pinch the plants back during their first growing season. When watering, hold hose to base of plant for a count of 5 seconds.  Water should reach all roots. Avoid sprinkling water on the leaves. Requires average amount of water.
Average watering: water two times per week during the summer and once per week during the rest of the year.

 

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Habitat Requirements
This plant prefers:
Full Sun (6+ hours of sun per day) Part Sun/ Shade (2-6 hours of sun per day)		Average Watering	Well-drained, Sandy, Loamy, Clay, or Moist Soil

 

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Leaf, Flower & Seed Identification
LEAF DESCRIPTION				USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database Doug Goldman Click on image to enlarge it
Leaf Characteristics Chart (JPG)
Shape: Palmate	Margin: Lobate	Arrangement: Alternate	Form: Simple
Description:
Leaves are dark green above, whitish below, 3-lobed; climbs with axillary (between stem and leaf) tendrils (modified leaf structure used for support) or sprawls along the ground; base of each leaf has 2 extra-floral nectaries (glands that secrete a sugary fluid) to attract ants

     

FLOWER DESCRIPTION				Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Marcus A Joseph Click on image to enlarge it
Flower Shapes Chart (JPG)
Color:	Shape:		Months:
Pink, purple, blue	saucer-shaped	& tubulate	April - Sep
Description:
Flowers are short-stalked and 2.5-3 inches in diameter; wavy or crimped hair-like crown sit atop 5 petals and 5 sepals, showy and erect pistil and stamen

  

SEED DESCRIPTION			Wikimedia Density Click on image to enlarge it
Type: Fruit - Berry	Description: Large, leathery, orange-yellow berry; mature berry is brown; about the size of a large oval hen’s egg; fruit contains many flattened, dark seeds, each covered with edible pulp	Months in Seed: July - October
Plant spreads by:
Seeds and Rhizomes/ Tubers/ Roots & Shoots  Often spreads rapidly by root suckers – grows from unintended buds on its roots.

 
 

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Plant Life Cycle
Plant Life Cycle: All plants start life as a seed. The seed turns into a sprout when it grows roots. The sprout becomes a seedling as grows a stem and leaves above the ground. After the seedling becomes an adult plant it will grow flowers.
	General Plant Life Cycle - Dreamstime Click on image to enlarge it
Plant Life Cycle continues: After the flowers finish blooming, each flower turns into a seed. When the seeds fall down to the ground, the plant life cycle starts again. Each seed can become a plant if it has the food, water and space that it needs to grow.
	Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Peggy Romfh Click on image to enlarge it

 

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS

 

Quick Fact Sheet (Condensed Species Info)

Plant ID Sign: Ready as-is PDF

Plant ID Sign: Editable Word Doc

QR Code (Links to this Webpage)

  

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INFORMATION SOURCES FOR THIS PLANT

 

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center's Plant Database		USDA Plants Database
Alabama Plant Atlas		Alabama Butterfly Atlas
Missouri Botanical Garden		Florida Native Plant Society

 

 
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