Passiflora cirrhiflora
Juss. (1805)
SUBGENUS: deidamioides
SECTION: polyanthea
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OR ORIGIN:
Guyane, French Guiana.
MINIMUM TEMPERATURE: 15 °C
IDEAL MINIMUM TEMPERATURE: 18 °C
SYNONYMS: DC.P. septenata Mast., P. jenmanii
ETYMOLOGY: From the Latin cirrus (tendril) as the flowers in this species are carried on the tendrils and not to the nodes of the stem.
NOTES: P. cirrhiflora bloomed in my greenhouse on January and November 2003
DESCRIPTION:
It is not easy to successfully cultivate this unusual passionflower, the only species belonging to the subgenus Polyanthea according to Killip and now ascribed to the subgenus Deidamioides, section Polyanthea. All the tricks and artifices studied up to now by collectors have proved useless. I saw, for example, the French collector Pierre Pomiè who, tired of the constant disappointments, decided to cultivate it in France in laterite, the soil that he had brought home from French Guiana. However, even this attempt failed to yield positive results.
Other enthusiasts and I have now tried to cultivate P. cirrhiflora in a light seed compost, well-drained and aerated thanks to the presence of vermiculite, paying close attention to watering and high humidity. Trying it this way worked so well that my specimen, a lively and fast grower, flowered in 2003.
The repotting operation is equally critical and risky. It is not easy to germinate the seeds or to root the cuttings. Yet, in its natural habitat, French Guiana, it is a monumental, exuberant and aggressive liana. It requires high temperatures (at least 18°C) and good atmospheric humidity during the vegetative phase, while, in winter, temperatures below 15°C are risky.
This extraordinary passionflower produces flowers of unusual beauty and even leaves that are particularly attractive, so much so that it differs from any other plant belonging to the same genus.
They are very large: in nature they reach a width of about 20 cm. They usually have 7 or 9 lobes that develop from the branching of the leaf petiole.
Each tendril has two yellow-orange flowers at the base, rich in red hues. The very mobile sepals and petals are retroflexed and hang downwards. The corona is truly impressive and consists of three series of dense filaments ending in a zig-zag, covered with a dense cottony down, and coloured in shades that range from brick red to deep yellow.
The fruits
are globular and have a diameter of about 5 cm.
