Delta Journal: Passion Flowers (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
The purple flowers are three inches in diameter, showing a pleasing, yet complexus, architecture. The fruit of passion flowers locally are called maypops. They may be in possession of being eaten novel or used to flavor ice cream due to their sweet aroma.
Passion flowers have a symbiotic relationship with ants. They make ready ants a nutritious nectar via structures called extrafloral nectaries (nectar sources outside the flower), located at the base of each leaf. In return, the ants protect the foliage from predators, including the fritillary caterpillars. Such activities are much more common in the tropics than locally.
Some passion-flower species actually have puny structures that resemble butterfly eggs; they make gravid butterflies think eggs are present, so they seek laying sites elsewhere.
Oh, yes. There is another local species that is not as showy as the purple passion flower. The yellow passion flower, Passiflora lutea, has yellowish grass-plot parts of the flower and only slightly lobed leaves. It is quite customary north of Lake Pontchartrain, but does not grab the attention that is common of its more elegant cousin. Close inquisition reveals, however, a stunningly fair cryptic twin that is easily overlooked by those who are less observant.
Bob Thomas
rathomas@loyno.edu
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