Passiflora filipes
Benth. (1843)
SUBGENUS: decaloba
SUPERSECTION: decaloba
SECTION: decaloba
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OR ORIGIN:
From southern Texas to Nicaragua and in Venezuela and Ecuador over 900 meters above sea level.
MINIMUM TEMPERATURE: 10 °C
IDEAL MINIMUM TEMPERATURE: 12 °C
SYNONYMS: Decaloba filipes M. Roemer.
ETYMOLOGY: From the Latin fílum thread and pes foot: with the stem as thin as a thread.
PHOTOGALLERY:
DESCRIPTION:
This passionflower is far less hardy than that of P. lutea. In winter, it must be ensured a temperature of at least 10°C. It is, therefore, necessary to cultivate it in a pot, using well-drained soil, so as to be able to shelter it. Lacking a particularly attractive or showy appearance, it is to be considered a collector's plant.
The flowers are followed by fruit of about 7 cm in diameter.
The white flowers are only about 1.5 cm in diameter and are borne in pairs at the axil of the leaves. The sepals and petals are greenish-white in colour and lean backwards. Above them is the corona comprising two series of sparse, radiated filaments of pure white.
Its leaves are trilobate with barely visible lobes, as the sinuses between the central and lateral lobes are almost non-existent. The leaf is about 8 cm wide and about 6 cm long, with a rounded base. It is therefore slightly transverse. The blade is thin and delicate.
The large group of passionflowers belonging to the complex subgenus Decaloba is widely distributed across South America. Passiflora filipes, similar to P. lutea, is ascribed to the subgenus Decaloba, supersection Decaloba, section Decaloba. This climber, which grows in a disordered and tangled way, has thin, thread-like stems. Its name derives from this characteristic. Its distribution extends from the southern regions of the United States (Texas) to Ecuador, up to an altitude of about 900 m.
Propagation is possible and easy with either cuttings or seeds.