Bernieh's Garden
Passiflora foetida - Stinking Passionfruit
Genus: Passiflora.
Species: Passiflora foetida.
Common name: Stinking Passionfruit
Botanic name: Passiflore Foetida
Family: Passifloraceae
A common weedy vine, seeds are spread by birds. It climbs by means of tendrils which are often tightly coiled, formed from modified axillary buds. Leaves are often 3-lobed, are covered by yellowish hairs which have an unpleasant odour when crushed.
Flowers to 5 cm diam., petals cream to pale mauve, corona usually pale mauve in colour, ovary with prominent styles. Fruit is a yellow to orange berry enclosed in deeply dissected bracts and bracteoles, glandular hairs present on them.
A native of South America, stinking passion flower (Passiflora foetida) is considered an invasive environmental weed.
