THE PASSION FLOWER
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHAWN JENNINGS!!!
The family Passifloraceae is found worldwide, except in Europe and Antarctica. Passiflora is also absent from Africa, where many other members of the family Passifloraceae occur (e.g. the more plesiomorphic Adenia).
Nine species of Passiflora are native to the USA, found from Ohio to the north, west to California and south to the Florida Keys. Most other species are found in South America, as well as China and Southern Asia (17 species), New Guinea, Australia (four, possibly more) and New Zealand (a single species). But new species continue to be described: for example, P. pardifolia and P. xishuangbannaensis are only known to science since 2006 and 2005, respectively.
Species of Passiflora have been naturalised beyond their native ranges. For example, Blue Passion Flower (P. caerulea) now grows wild in Spain. The purple passionfruit (P. edulis) and its yellow relative flavicarpa are introduced in many tropical regions as commercial crops.
Uploaded on August 13, 2009