2011 Holiday Gift Ideas

Monday, July 27, 2009

Plant of the Day - Passiflora (Passion Flower)

Passion flower
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photo:Passiflora pardifolia was only described in 2006

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Subclass: Rosidae
(unranked): Eurosids I
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Passifloraceae
Genus: Passiflora L.
Species: About 500, see text

The passion flowers or passion vines (Passiflora) are a genus of about 500 species of flowering plants, the namesakes of the family Passifloraceae. They are mostly vines, with some being shrubs, and a few species being herbaceous. For information about the fruit of the passiflora plant, see passionfruit. The monotypic genus Hollrungia seems to be inseparable from Passiflora, but further study is needed.
The family Passifloraceae is found worldwide, except in Europe and Antarctica. Passiflora is also absent from Africa, where many other members of the family Passifloraceae occur (e.g. the more plesiomorphic Adenia).

Nine species of Passiflora are native to the USA, found from Ohio to the north, west to California and south to the Florida Keys. Most other species are found in South America, as well as China and Southern Asia (17 species), New Guinea, Australia (four, possibly more species) and New Zealand (a single endemic species). But new species continue to be described: for example, P. pardifolia and P. xishuangbannaensis are only known to science since 2006 and 2005, respectively.

Species of Passiflora have been naturalised beyond their native ranges. For example, Blue Passion Flower (P. caerulea) now grows wild in Spain.[1] The purple passionfruit (P. edulis) and its yellow relative flavicarpa are introduced in many tropical regions as commercial crops.


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