Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Malpighiales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Passiflora incarnata
FAMILY
Passifloraceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
This species is a valuable host plant for several showy butterflies, such as Gulf and Variegated fritillaries, and Zebra Longwings farther south. Read more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Passiflora incarnata
FAMILY
Passifloraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Passiflora incarnata
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 131-01-001:
Passiflora incarnata FAMILY Passifloraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Passiflora incarnata
COMMON NAME:
Purple Passionflower, Maypop
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA Forest Service / A Guide to Medicinal Plants of Appalachia. 1969 mpa_page_189
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_pain6_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm0405o_06
May Greenville County SC
Field
Leaves finely toothed, leaf base truncate or rounded, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
COMPARE
palmately veined leaves of vines
)
JK Marlow jkm160626_085
June Polk County NC
Pacolet Area Conservancy
Here trained to a trellis!
)
JK Marlow jkm190618_9302
June Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
)
JK Marlow jkm210626_1680
June Oconee County SC
Sumter National Forest: Andrew Pickens Ranger District
)
Lisa Wagner lkw_passifloraandbee
June?
Carpenter bees collect nectar from the flowers. — Lisa Wagner
)
JK Marlow jkm0507n_29
July Greenville County SC
Fruit a yellow (green) edible berry, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm100704_013
July Greenville County SC
Sepals 2.5-3.5cm long, with a soft horn-like subapical appendage 1-5mm long, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
Mark A. Musselman mam_passionflower071508c
July Dorchester County SC
Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest
)
JK Marlow jkm0408e_06
August Greenville County SC
Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve
Fruit a large pod-like berry, ovoid, 4-6cm long, per Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses (Miller & Miller, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm100809_408
August Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
Pollinator at work.
)
JK Marlow jkm190804_0575
August Greenville County SC
Sepals 2.5-3.5cm long, with a soft horn-like subapical appendage 1-5mm long, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm190804_0579
August Greenville County SC
Leaves deeply palmately 3-lobed; lobes with constricted bases & pointed tips, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm190804_0584
August Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm190804_0589
August Greenville County SC
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_passiflora_incarnata
September
Sepals and petals surmounted by elaborate fringelike purple-banded corona, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
Judy Seeley jud_gulf_fritillary_cat
October Pickens County SC
In cultivation
Passionflower is a host of the Gulf fritillary butterfly, Agraulis vanillae, per University of Florida's Featured Creatures.
)
Sam Pratt sbp_101520_1933
October Spartanburg County SC
)
Ben Geer Keys bgk1035_a
Month Unknown
Yellowish anthers circle below 3 arching styles and enlarged stigmas, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Passiflora incarnata
FAMILY
Passifloraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Passiflora incarnata
FAMILY
Passifloraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America
Passiflora incarnata
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 131-01-001:
Passiflora incarnata
FAMILY
Passifloraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Passiflora incarnata
1035
Herbaceous vine
Perennial
Habitat: Roadsides, fencerows, thickets, fields, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
Alternate
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer/Fall
Bluish/White
Radially symmetrical
5 sepals
5 petals
5 stamens
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Green
Berry
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- All About South Carolina Wildflowers (Midgley, 1999) p213
- Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses (Miller & Miller, 2005) p140
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p104
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p229
- Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers (Campbell, Hutson, Sharp, & Hutson, 1962) p090
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p388
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p430
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p540
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p396
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p431
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p206
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p053
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p158
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p278
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p082
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p105
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p418
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p105
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p337
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".