Passiflora vitifolia Kunth

 

(Passifloraceae)

Masís, A., Chavarria, F., Guadamuz, A., Perez, D., and Espinoza, R. 1998. Passiflora vitifolia (Passifloraceae) Species Page, March 10, 1998. Species Home Pages, Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica. http://www.acguanacaste.ac.cr

I. Identificación:

Crawling, woody vine.

Flower:

The calyx is greenish-white, and the corola is red. The flowers are perfect (both sexes on the the same flower). The inflorescence is axillary and compound with a single flower. They open in the morning in January.

 

 

Front view of flower

 

Anthers and pistil in detail

 

Disection of the flower

 

Floral bud

Fruit:

The fruits are ovoid berries, 5-8 cm long, greenish yellow with white lines (Croat 1978). The immature fruit is light green. They are approximatly 3.5 cm in diameter and 6 cm in length. They mature in February.

 

Disection of immature fruit

 

Immature fruit

Leaves:

The leaves are simple and alternate, with trilobate laminas (partially divided in three lobes). The central lobe is the longest, measuring 7-14 cm (Croat 1978). The upper surface is dark green and the under surface is light green.

The petiole is cilindrical and approximatly 1-2 cm long.

Upper surface of the leaf

Under surface of the leaf

   

Node

Bark and wood:

The bark is dark brown and has obvious lenticels.

External and internal bark

 

Transversal cut of the principal stem

Whole plant architecture:

Similar species:

Verification:

II. Geographic distribution:

International:

From Nicaragua to Venezuela and Perú (Croat 1978).

In Costa Rica:

In the Area de Conservación Guanacaste:

 Map of macro-hábitats of the ACG

III. Natural History:

It is pollinated by hummingbirds (Trochilidae) (Janzen 1998).

IV. How to find:

In the Sector El Hacha near the los Almendros station.

Acknowledgments:

This project was carried out by the Area de Conservación Guanacaste/CR, with help from INBio/CR, ICBG from the Foggarty center, NIH/USA and NSF/USA.

Thanks to Kate Beattie for helping with the image managment and translation of this species page.

Literature cited:

Croat, T.B. 1978. Flora of Barro Colorado Island. Standford University Press, Standford. Pg 636.

Janzen, D.H. 1998. Pers. Com.