Sparkling passionflower (Passiflora vesicaria)

Sparkling passionflower (Passiflora vesicaria) is a species of plant in the Passifloraceae, a creeping or climbing herb, the fruit is covered in enlarged flower petals, grows up to 5 meters long, the stem is cylindrical, green or reddish in color and has white hairs.

P. vesicaria has single leaves with 5-6 cm stems and long hairs. The leaves are egg-shaped, 6-7 cm wide, 9 cm long, three sharp corners, heart-shaped leaf base, perhaps flat edges or not deeply toothed.

Flowers are bright white, often with a purple center and club-shaped pistils. The fruit is covered in pad leaves, round or oval in shape, green in color and turns yellow or red to orange when ripe, glabrous, shiny and has many seeds.

This species grows with other herbs and shrubs in gardens, moors, dry rice fields, beach sand, roadsides, forest edges and parts of the forest that are open and receive hot sunlight.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Passifloraceae
Subfamily: Passifloroideae
Tribe: Passifloreae
Genus: Passiflora
Subgenus: Passiflora
Section: Dysosmia
Species: Passiflora vesicaria
Variety: Passiflora vesicaria var. galapagensis, Passiflora vesicaria var. vesicaria

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