Passiflora edulis

Passiflora edulis is a plant species commonly known as passion fruit. It is a vine, which means it grows along the ground or climbs up other plants and structures. It belongs to the passion flower family, and it is native to southern Brazil, through Paraguay, and northern Argentina.

The fruit of this plant is a pepo, a type of botanical berry. It is round to oval in shape and can be either yellow or dark purple when ripe. Inside, it has a soft to firm, juicy part filled with many seeds.

People grow this plant commercially in tropical and subtropical areas. The fruit is valued for its sweet, seedy flesh its sweet, seedy fruit, which is both eaten and juiced. Its juice is often added to other fruit juices to enhance their aroma.

Etymology

The passion fruit is named this way because it is the fruit of one of the many species of passion flower. "Passion flower" is the English translation of the Latin genus name, Passiflora.

Around 1700, missionaries in Brazil gave the plant its name as a teaching tool while trying to bring the Indigenous people to Christianity. Its name was flor das cinco chagas, or "flower of the five wounds," to illustrate the crucifixion of Christ. Other parts of the plant were also named after an emblem in the Passion of Jesus.

Description

Passiflora edulis is a perennial vine. Its young tendrils grow from axils and are red or purple. There are two main types: a purple-fruited type, P. edulis f. edulis, and a yellow-fruited type, P. edulis f. flavicarpa. Each node usually has one flower, about 5 to 7.5 cm wide. It has five green sepals and five white petals, which form a fringe. The center has five stamens, an ovary, and a branched style with stigmas on top. The fruit is a round or oval berry with dark purple or light yellow skin. It is 4 to 7.5 cm across and has a leathery rind with a thick layer of pith. Inside, there are usually about 250 brown seeds, each surrounded by juicy pulp. The taste can be compared to the guava fruit.

Several varieties of passion fruit are rich in polyphenol content. Yellow varieties were found to contain prunasin and other cyanogenic glycosides in the peel and juice. The bright yellow flavicarpa variety, also called yellow or golden passion fruit, can grow as big as a grapefruit. It has been used as a rootstock for purple passion fruit in Australia. The dark purple edulis variety is smaller than a lemon. It is less sour than the yellow type and has a richer smell and sweeter pulp.

Distribution and habitat

Passion fruit plants first grew naturally in the southern part of Brazil, across Paraguay, and into the northern part of Argentina.

Cultivation

Passion fruit is widely grown in semitropical and tropical regions of the world. In the United States, it is grown in Florida, Hawaii, and California. It usually needs to be protected from frost, although some types have survived light frosts after heavy pruning of damaged areas. The flower of the yellow-fruited plant is self-sterile, while the flower of the purple-fruited plant is self-compatible. In California, pollination of flowers is reported to work best when the carpenter bee does it. Some gardeners place decaying logs near the vines to give these bees shelter.

Passion fruit plants can get many diseases. Passion fruit woodiness virus, which belongs to the Potyvirus group, makes leaves yellow and fruit small, stone-like, and cracked. Sap-sucking insects such as aphids and mites spread it, and it can also spread through infected cuttings or tools. There is no chemical control once a plant is infected. The cucumber mosaic virus causes yellow spots on leaves and twisted, curled leaves, and aphids spread it too. Phytoplasma, a specialized bacterium, attacks the phloem of a plant. It causes chlorotic small leaves, shorter internodes, extra shoots, and abnormal flowers. It can spread through grafting, but it responds to tetracycline, a common broad-spectrum antibiotic. Bacterial leaf spot causes vein clearing, bright yellow colonies, leaf wilt, and fruit pulp breakdown. Fertilizers or a mixture of copper chloride and mancozeb can limit it, but they are not a cure. The bacterium Pseudomonas syringae causes greasy-looking spots on leaves, and it affects the stomata of the leaves. Fungicide controls can help prevent further infection. Collar rot is caused by the fungus Fusarium solani and leads to browning of the stem at soil level, and the plant can wither. Fusarium wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum, blocks the xylem so water and nutrients cannot move through the plant. Finally, anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporiodes, creates dark, sunken spots on the trunk, which can cause leaves to fall off and fruit to rot.

Uses

Raw passion fruit is 73% water, 22% carbohydrates, 2% protein and 0.7% fat. A 100 g (3.5 oz) serving has 97 calories. It is a rich source of vitamin C, with 33% of the Daily Value (DV), and a moderate source of riboflavin and potassium. It has no other micronutrients in significant amounts.

People enjoy passion fruit as a whole fruit and as juice, and it is used in many different ways around the world. In Australia and New Zealand, it is sold fresh and tinned, added to fruit salads, and used in desserts such as pavlova, a regional meringue cake, ice cream, cheesecake and the icing of vanilla slices. A passion-fruit soft drink called Passiona has been made in Australia since the 1920s. In Brazil, passion fruit is common in passion fruit mousse, juice and ice pops, and it can replace lime in a caipirinha. In Hawaii, where it is called lilikoʻi, the pulp is eaten fresh and the syrup is used on shave ice, in malasadas, and in jam. Other countries also have their own uses, including wine in Cambodia, juices and desserts in Colombia and Costa Rica, syrup on shaved ice in the Dominican Republic, juice in East Africa, and ice pops and ceviche variations in Peru. Passion fruit is also sold in public markets in the Philippines, and it is used for liqueurs in Portugal and in Puerto Rico. In South Africa, it is known as granadilla and used in yogurt, drinks and cordial drinks, and in Sri Lanka its juice is a common refreshment.

In culture

In 1884, the English Victorian painter Frank Dicksee painted Romeo and Juliet, which shows a passion fruit vine growing up a Solomonic column, even though this did not match the time the story is set in. The painting today belongs to the Southampton City Art Gallery in the United Kingdom.

In 2006, singer-songwriter Paula Fuga released the popular song "Lilikoi." Lilikoi is the Hawaiian language word for passion fruit. The song is included on an album that is also named after the fruit.