Passiflora amoena | The Italian Collection of Maurizio Vecchia

DESCRIPTION:

The flowers of this beautiful and rare tropical passionflower sprout densely directly from the trunk and along the bare lignified and leafless branches, almost piercing the bark. This behaviour, rare in Gen. Passiflora, is called caulifloria. Its bearing, in fact, is not that of the classic climber typical of most plants belonging to Gen. Passiflora, but rather that of a large woody bush or small tree. It lives, in particular, in the forests of French Guiana and Guyana, where it was found.

Its recording, by Linda Escobar, dates back to 1994.

The flowers, with a diameter of about 4-5 cm, are deep pink, open, with a long calyx and a corona made up of short yellow filaments arranged radially in the centre of the flower and parallel to the corolla. The sepals are lanceolate, the petals, which are narrower, have the upper surface furrowed by a longitudinal groove. The androgynophore is prominent.

The whole leaves are leathery, like almost all of the passionflowers growing in the Guianas. They have an elliptical shape with a rounded apex and measure about 13 cm in length and 5 cm in width. They grow only on small terminal and lateral twigs.

This rare passionflower is difficult to cultivate. While interesting and desirable, it requires a greenhouse with a tropical climate and plenty of space, as it blooms on years-old and well-lignified vegetation. It is therefore rare to see it, if not in the natural environment, even though small specimens have been cultivated by collectors.

Both reproduction by seed and by the rooting of cuttings have proved disappointing.