Passiflora talamancensis | The Italian Collection of Maurizio Vecchia

DESCRIPTION:

This is another passionflower of Costa Rican origin, suitable for breeding the colourful caterpillars of the tropical genus Heliconius butterflies.

It is cultivated almost exclusively for this reason, although it has interesting leaves of a singular and curious shape. They look like an isosceles triangle in which the long petiole is applied to one of the vertices. From this depart two slightly convex sides. Opposite is the shorter third side, with a concave curvature and a slight hint of a third lobe. In the median part of the dark green leaf blade, between the lateral veins, lie two rows of aligned glands.

The leaves can reach 12 cm in length and, distally, up to 7 cm in width.

The flowers are only about 3 cm in diameter. The sepals and petals are white. The corona comprises two series of filaments both coloured white at the base and purple at the apex.

This passionflower, with its thin striated and angled stems, is almost unknown and not easy to find. It deserves to be grown for its decorative foliage with a slightly leathery texture. In fact, it represents yet another variant of the subgenus Decaloba with leaves possessing their own unique shape.

Cold resistance is limited to 10°C. Even though robust and adaptable, it should be grown in pots, to be placed outside in spring through to late autumn.

The spherical fruits, 1 cm in diameter, turn completely black when ripe.

It propagates very easily from cuttings. Its seeds, however, are not easy to find.