Passiflora lutea L.

Horticultural & Botanical History

Introduced to Britain in 1714.  [PD]. ‘The present species, and the quadrangularis already given in the fourteenth article of this work, are, we suspect, exemplifications of nearly the extremes of size in the flower of this genus.  Probably likewise of the fruit, which in the one is of the size of a pea, in the other larger than a swan’s egg. […] The species is native of Jamaica, Virginia, Carolina, and Florida.  Will endure our common winters planted at the foot of a warm wall.  The root is perennial and creeping.  The stem herbaceous, diffusely branched, climbing by tendrils, seldom exceeding four feet.  The foliage varies much in size, and when young has a minute soft pubescence on the under surface, as well as the petiole, peduncle, and branches.  The flowers are generally in pairs, and appear about August.’  [BR f.79/1816].

History at Camden Park

Desideratum to Loddiges’ Nursery on 6th January 1845 [MP A2933-2, p.28].  I have found no further records and it may never have been grown at Camden. 

Notes