Passiflora alata is a fast-growing evergreen climbing vine from the Amazon region that produces edible passion fruit and fragrant, striking flowers. It needs warmth, plenty of sun, and support to climb on.
Family
Passifloraceae (Passion-flower family)
Grows as
Climber
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly during the growing season, letting the top few centimetres of soil dry between waterings.
Soil
Well-drained, fertile potting mix or garden soil enriched with compost.
Temperature
18–30 °C; protect below 5 °C
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
Ecuador to Brazil and NE. Argentina
Climate
wet tropical
About
Passiflora alata, the winged-stem passion flower, is a species of flowering plant. It is an evergreen vine, growing to 6 m (20 ft) or more, which bears an edible type of passion fruit. It is native to the Amazon, from Peru to eastern Brazil.
How to grow it
In temperate zones P. alata is usually cultivated indoors, though it can also be grown outside in areas where the temperature does not fall below 5 °C (41 °F). It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Uses
In Brazil, P. alata is officially recognized as a phytomedicine, and was included in first edition of Brazilian Pharmacopoeia in 1929. It is well known in folk medicine throughout South America, though the exact pharmacological composition of the plant is little understood and requires more study.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Passiflora alata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.