The Passionflower is also known as: Maypop, Apricot-vine, Grenadille, Granadilla, Maracoc, Passiflore rouge, Passionsblume, Purple Passion-flower and Passion Vine. It's latin name is Passiflora incarnata. It makes a wonderful flower to photograph when in full bloom.

It's native habitat is the North American states of Virginia and Kentucky, Florida and Texas, and can be found growing in sandy thickets, open fields, roadsides, and wasteland, however now can be grown over most of Europe too.

The Passionflower is easily cultivated through division of the root and also by seed. Replanting from the wild will also do well The soil it requires is well-drained, sandy and slightly acidic, with plenty of sun. As it is a climbing vine, a trellis should be provided. As you can see from the photograph, the Passionflower has beautiful large (5-8cm across) flowers, which produce a wonderful aroma. The flowers are in full bloom from June to August. It grows very quickly and produces edible fruit and also medicinal uses. The photo at the bottom of this page shows the actual passion fruit. It is ripe when it is yellow-green colour, and about the size of a small egg. Inside, the yellow pulp is sweet and tasty, the fruit is used in Hawaiian Punch for flavor. The flowers can also be eaten, both raw and cooked, used in jams and jellies too. Even the young leaves can be used as a cooked vegetable or eaten in salads, so none of this wonderful plant seems to go to waste.

Some scientific evidence of the medicinal benefits of eating the Passionflower have been found, however much of these studies have been performed on animals only. Studies have pointed to the flavonoids as the primary constituents responsible for its relaxing and antianxiety effects. Some of the plants constituents, Apigenin, Luteolin, Kaempferol, and Quercetin, are being studied and showing promise in fighting Parkinson's Disease, forms of Cancer, HIV, Leukemia, and others. It was introduced into medicine in about 1840 by. L. Phares of Mississippi and by 1898 was in use by American physicians.

Passionflower was used as an alternative medicine in the treatment of insomnia, nervous tension, irritability, neuralgia, irritable bowel syndrome, backpain and epilepsy, however is not recommended for use during pregnancy. As with all medicines, it should be taken moderately, in this case, too much Passionflower will make you extremely sleepy. Generally the plant is dried, and then made into a tea, it can also be made into a chewable gum.

The name Passionflower refers to the "Passion of Christ". The 3 stamens represent his wounds, and the 12 petals represent the twelve apostles. Alternative sources suggest the corona resembles Christ's crown of thorns.