experiments in botany -- passion vine
This flower is apparently like opium to bumblebees. I have seen them actually hang out all night one the vine instead of going back to their hive. Sometimes there will be two or three crawling around on the same flower. The green spiky thing to the lower right of the bottom flower is an immature bud.
The flowers eventually become these fruits, although according to Wikipedia they are supposed to turn purple when they ripen, so I guess that has not happened yet. This is my first year growing this, so I have zero personal experience on which to rely. That is true for preparing them as well, although there are many recipes online.
So far, the vine has been ridiculously easy, even with direct sunlight only in the afternoon. This is a single summer's growth! Given that this is a tropical plant, maybe that should not be a surprise. I wonder how long it will take for the local disease organisms to catch up to it?
The white bar is a piece of PVC that I zip-tied to the wrought-iron railings to bridge the gap, because I did not want the vine continuing upwards into the rain gutters.
I am a member of the Greensboro Permaculture Guild, though I am in no way certified. Professionally, I study things with brains, not plants. Most of the things that I grow here in my quarter-acre yard are food for me. I also have some native species that serve as food for wildlife, which in one way or another lead to food for me.
I also blog about science fiction and science in general @plotbot2015.
Great pictures, upvoted and followed!
Thanks. They were taken with an iPhone by a non-professional photographer (my wife).
I want to get some of my Audubon peeps posting their much more technically proficient nature photos to Steemit. Many of them are retired and love nothing more than talking about their pictures.
Nice! When I lived in the jungle, there was a passion fruit vine that would dangle fruit in front of my front door. The tart pulp makes an excellent topping for crepes.
"When I lived in the jungle," he says. All casual-like.
Well ... it was extremely casual. The place was only accessible by boat or donkey, there was no electricity or running water, and every Sunday the village doctor would share his photocopied player's handbook so our weekly Dungeons & Dragons session could proceed. My girlfriend drew pictures of the crazy plants and lizards all over, I learned to avoid scorpions while cutting our daily ration of coconuts from the tops of palm trees, and sometimes a bull would get loose and charge unwary pedestrians just for fun.
What can I say? I was 19 and the whole thing was about as informal as it gets.
Well, yeah, I suppose my travels and moves around the country could look pretty adventurous to the rest of my family, most of whom have lived in the same part of KY for over a hundred years. It's relative, I guess.
I have since discovered that the still-green fruits are ripe when they fall off the vine. The shell never changes color, but the seeds inside go from being surrounded by a fibrous white husk to being surrounded by a clear fragrant pulp, like a pomegranate but yellow. I've been experimenting with them as flavoring in drinks. They also supposedly have a lot of magnesium and fiber. Cracking them with my teeth and swallowing them has had no ill effects that I can discern.
http://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/passion-fruit-seeds.php
An herbalist acquaintance was telling me how she uses the leaves to make tea, but according to this the leaves can also be used in a salad.
http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Passion_Fruit_Leaves_10642.php
I'm going to try that today and see what happens.
I ate them on a hummus sandwich with a bunch of sprouts and they were fine. No ill effects.