Saw several of these the other day in the middle of a patch of wild verbena.
It looks like something I've seen before like at a garden center store, but I can't remember what it was and just can't quite place it. I figured I'd put it out there for the faithful readers of the blog to help me identify. I've walked by the patch a few times recently and never saw it before, so these literally just bloomed open in the last week. Not sure if it's a free standing flower or a vine twining around in the patch.
There is only one spot that I've found (so far anyway) on the whole property where I see these. Not planted by me or the previous owner and not watered or taken care of, they are just somehow growing wild and blooming. The one thing I do know for sure, they are beautiful!
Its a Passion Fruit flower. The fruit is edible. Its a egg oval short of shape the fruit that is, full of seeds in little sacks.
ReplyDeleteTHAT"S IT!!!!!!! I knew i had seen it somewhere before. I didn't make the connection. Awesome, thank you!!
Deletetex is right.... the petals and pollen stamens signify the loafs and fishes parts of the bible!
ReplyDeleteWow, I didn't realize that, thank you. I learned something new today! Cool!
DeleteIt is a vine so I would look for the vine twinning around the ground. Wow I haven't seen one thrive outside here, ie not tropical local. Way to go nature
ReplyDeleteNature finds a way huh? Neat! This is in a big patch of of other plants, not sure where to find the vine, should I try to find where it starts in the patch and try to support it upward? I'd love to see if they'll develop into fruit?
DeletePassion flower - (passiflora) - fruits make excellent desserts and juice and can also be used (though not sure which bits) to make a sleep-inducing tea.
ReplyDeleteThese are pretty hardy and I grew the flowers quite successfully in North Yorkshire in England, but not much by way of fruit. Plentiful here in the tropics and grow to outrageous heights.
Just found a pic that I want to share with you but not sure how that is possible? Can I post a pic on here?
Hi HH!! I love that we have some sort of cool wild tropical fruit growing! Of course, whether or not it fruits is another story, ha.
DeleteI don't think there is a way to post photos. You are more than welcome to email it to me:
houstonrayATgmailDOTcom
Thanks!!
In Alabama, they are commonly called may-pops. Look for the fruit in May. We never tried eating them, we just stomped them to hear them go "pop". They grew along the edge of the cotton field, just at the edge of the woods. If you try eating them, let us know how they taste.
ReplyDeletejudydee
"May-pops"? Oh my gosh that's too cool. I'm off to google to see what I can learn. I'll update the blog later with info I find. I appreciate all of you for helping out. Love this blog thing!
DeleteIt's a passion fruit flower. The fruit is the size of a golf ball full of little seeds and pulp. The juice is excellent to keep blood pressure under control the natural way. I wish I can grow it in Florida. I love it! Let me know if you need more information on how to prepare de juice.
ReplyDeleteI just hope we have some fruit! I will check it on a regular basis now to see how it's doing. I love that it's so healthy too. I'll keep you posted, thank you!!!!
DeleteIn Mississippi, we call them maypops too. I never knew they were also passionfruit until I saw the pic and googled maypop lol!
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of maypops and like you, I googled once y'all all started commenting and I learned of other names too. I'm going to do a blog post about it this weekend, and snap some more pictures up close, now that i know what it is! Thanks!!! :-)
DeleteYeah, what they said. Sorry I have not been by recently, just catching up now.
ReplyDeleteWell, I did miss you, but I totally understand, I've been visiting your blog to see how things are going. Hope you feel better soon! The door is always open, stop by anytime! ;-)
DeleteA very cool flower and fruit...love your blog--my first time here. I'll be back!!
ReplyDeleteAww, thanks for those kind words. It always makes me smile when I see a new 'friend' stopping by. Thanks. Can't wait to watch the passion fruit progress, hopefully anyway, ha.
DeleteHmmm...tried to post and got a Service not available-message. Trying again. First time here--I'll be back!
ReplyDeleteThere it is--that was weird. Okay--I'm a new follower. lol
DeleteIt's a blogger thing (the software that runs the blogs, not the people, ha), it happens from time to time, no worries. Welcome again!! :-)
Deletethe beautiful vine you have is called the Passion Plant. It is very fragile and does not like to be moved. It must be in a good spot so it does not freeze and the root system must be real warm with what ever is near and over it. Do not throw it out!
ReplyDeleteI know that this is over a year old, but just read it. We had lattice around our deck in San Antonio and planted a purple-flower passion vine to grow over the lattice. We stored the lawn equipment under the deck and you couldn't see it. We bought our vine at a little shop in Gruene which sold old, not genetically modified plants native to Texas or which thrived there. Our vine grew to cover at least a hundred square feet of lattice. My husband cut away part of the lattice, put a frame around it and put hinges on it and made a door so we could go under the deck. He put a gate latch on it with a string to the inside so we could get out if it shut while we were in there. The vine covered the door section, too, but we could still work the door. The vine was prone to get big ugly caterpillars of some sort on it; I can't remember what they were called. We controlled them with a pesticide with bacillus thuringiensis (BT) in it. I'm loving your blog and will keep reading some each day until I can catch up!
ReplyDeleteYou are SO sweet to comment on these older posts. And a brave woman for reading back to the beginning, ha. It's a slow, long work in progress. But it's coming along. Little by little. Back in our early days we were probably wide eyed and full of wonder and ready to do it all. Then reality hits and it's a bit more involved at times but we have fun every step of the way.
DeleteI bet we must have some of the old native ones. They are EVERYWHERE this year. In fact I've got a post coming up about them. Even lots of fruit appearing and I want to try to make something out of it (jelly perhaps?).
Thanks again and hang in there, ha!