Purple Passionflower

Did you know

• Spanish missionaries named it passionflower because they saw the crucifixion story in its intricate flower parts.
• The elaborate filaments, five stamens, and three stigmas were said to represent the crown of thorns, wounds, and nails of Christ.
• Its fruit, called maypop, is edible and tastes like a tart tropical guava when fully ripe in late summer.
• Passionflower extract is clinically studied as a natural anxiety remedy and is approved in Germany for nervous restlessness.
• It is the state wildflower of Tennessee, where it grows abundantly in fields, roadsides, and forest edges.

Color meanings

Uses

• herbal medicine
• ornamental vine
• edible fruit
• butterfly host plant