Click on any image to open the slideshow
Passiflora incarnata
Purple Passionflower
Maypop
Florida native
This distinctive flower is also known as MAYPOP, one of the more common native species in this family. A favorite larval food of the Gulf fritillary, julia and zebra butterflies, exotic and cultivated hybrid species of passionflowers can also be found in Florida.
Vines can be sprawling or climbing, utilizing tendrils to cling to supports. Leaves are alternate, three-lobed and finely toothed. The showy flowers have a blue-purple fringed corolla. There are five each similar-looking petals and sepals, with the petals having a bluish or lavender tint and the sepals being pale, sort of off-white. The sexual parts of a passionflower are distinctive and rise above the center of the corolla then spread and bend back down, scraping the top of visiting pollinators (see photo with bee).
Passiflora incarnata is a member of the Passifloraceae - Passion-flower family.
Other species of the Passiflora genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Passiflora incarnata var. alba - WHITE PASSIONFLOWER
Passiflora pallens - PINELAND PASSIONFLOWER
Passiflora suberosa - CORKYSTEM PASSIONFLOWER
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: May 10, 2020
