CSIR-NEERI Biodiversity Portal

Stinking Passion Flower

Passiflora foetida

Botanical name	: Passiflora foetida .
Common Name	: Stinking passionflower
Family	: Passifloraceae
About	: A climbing or scrambling vine with sticky hairs over most of the plant. Its stems produce tendrils (1 cm, long threadlike) from the bases of the alternately arranged leaves. The stems have an unpleasant odour. Its leaves (3-10.5 cm long) usually have three rounded or pointed lobes, but sometimes they can be entire or five-lobed. Its flowers (3-5 cm across) vary from pinkish to white or purplish in colour and are borne singly in the leaf forks. Flowering occurs mainly during autumn, winter and spring (i.e. from February to November). Fruits are dry berries (1.5-4 cm long) partially enclosed by the persistent, deeply-divided, sticky floral bracts. And turn from green to yellow or orange in colour as they mature. Native to tropical America, and has now spread throughout the tropics in America, Asia, and the Pacific Islands where it is an invasive weed. Plantspecies reproduces by seed. The fruit are eaten and the seeds dispersed by birds. The bracts of this plant serve as insect traps, but it is as yet unknown whether the plant digests and gains nourishment from the trapped insects or if it merely uses the bracts as a defensive mechanism to protect its flowers and fruit. This is still an issue of debate and research among carnivorous plant enthusiasts. This species can be helpful in treating digestive problems, including dyspepsia and diarrhea; or used as an astringent and expectorant for nervous conditions