Passionfruit Year 2

Our passionfruit (or passion fruit, depending where you come from) is thriving!!! This is its second year and I thought that I was lucky to have somewhere between 80 and 100 fruit last time. The vines have grown immensely and after showing some buds for a week or more, have finally exploded into bloom. The flower only lasts for one day, and then is enclosed again by petals  and the fruit develops.

Check out these "before and after" shots of our vines.

 This was the passionfruit vines just before they started to produce flowers towards the end of last year, and now they are producing again. It is hard to imagine that in a few months, these two plants provided us with nearly 100 passionfruit!!!

 Now!!!! This is the same plant at the moment. Flowers have just begun to appear and then enclose themselves, producing those luscious, purple tropical passionfruit. Can't wait to try them fresh off the vine, although we still have a huge supply in the freezer from the last crop. But, I suppose we will use them over the summer.

Thanks to Paghat's Garden, I can explain briefly how passionfruit got its name. I had known all along that the cross in the centre of the flower depicted the crucifixion of Jesus, but the following explanation goes into a bit more depth. If you want to read more on this subject go to www.paghat.com/passiflorasymbolism.html. 

This is very good reading and explains several aspects of the naming of the passionfruit.

"The five petals & five sepals are ten apostles, leaving out Judas the betrayer & Peter because he denied knowing Jesus. The purple carolla Bosio reportedly had seventy-two filaments, the number of thorns in Jesus's crown. The three pistil stigmas are nails. The five stamens are the number of wounds, so that to this day, Catholics in South & Central America call it "The Flower of the Five Wounds." The leaf represents the spear that placed the wound in Jesus's side. The dark spots under the leaves are the 33 pieces of silver paid to Judas. When the flowers are spent after a single day (the time Jesus spent on the cross), the petals do not drop from the vine but re-close over the ovary, & this symbolises the Hidden Wisdom that constitutes the Mysteries of the Cross, and is like Jesus enclosed in the tomb."

The reference to the petals not dropping but close to protect the developing fruit can be seen clearly in the pic below. Also, you will be able to understand references to parts of the flower from the above explanation.

Even though it is a very beautiful flower and produces wonderful fruit, I never cease to be mazed at the beauty and simplicity of the flower. I think that also the whole plant deserves to be recognised as one of Nature's Wonders.

Three cheers for the passionfruit!!!!