Happy Mystery Monday! Can you guess what is pictured in photo #1?
The answer to last week’s mystery is the passion flower, Passiflora incarnata, pictured in photo #2.
The passion flower, Passiflora incarnata, also known as maypop or purple passionflower, is a perennial vine native to the southeastern United States.
Its striking blooms feature five stamens, a pistil of three styles and stigmas, and a dramatic corona of filaments. These flowers are irresistible to butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. Large bees such as the eastern carpenter bee are especially effective pollinators – the anthers are perfectly positioned to brush pollen onto a bee’s back as it rummages for nectar. The flower’s intricate structure once inspired symbolic links to the Christian crucifixion story, giving it the name “Passion.”
Despite its tropical appearance, this hardy plant can withstand temperatures as low as 0°F. Maypop vines can grow more than 20′ long and spread readily by root suckers in sandy or clayey soils where there is abundant sunlight. Their edible fruits – large, orange-yellow berries that “pop” when crushed – can be eaten fresh or used for juice and jelly. Passion flowers are also vital larval hosts for butterflies, including the Gulf fritillary, zebra longwing, Red-banded hairstreak, and Julia butterfly.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.
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