Passion fruit

Passion fruit

　　Passion fruit is a perennial evergreen, woody, climbing vine. It has tendrils, simple alternate leaves with petioles, usually bearing two glands on the petiole, and forms cymes that sometimes degenerate to just 1–2 flowers. The flowers can be bisexual, unisexual, or occasionally polygamous, with five sepals that often resemble petals and frequently have an horn-like appendage at the back near the tip; five petals, which may sometimes be absent. There are one to several whorls of filamentous or scale-like corona between the corolla and the stamens, though they may also be absent. The inner corona varies in form. There are typically five stamens. The pistil consists of three to five carpels, with a superior ovary situated on the androgynophore, containing one chamber and several anatropous ovules.

It blooms in summer, producing large, pale red, lightly fragrant flowers. The fruit is a capsule that splits open along the back of the chambers or is a fleshy berry. The fresh fruit resembles an egg in shape, and the juice has a color similar to egg yolk, hence its nickname “passion fruit.”