General Description:

Passiflora is a large genus of over 500 species found mostly in tropical areas of America and Asia. It is well known because of the commercial “passionfruit”, P.edulis. There are five native species recognised in the Australian Plant Census:

• Passiflora aurantia – eastern Queensland, north-eastern New South Wales, Papua New Guinea and some Pacific islands.
• Passiflora aurantioides – Queensland, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and some Pacific islands.
• Passiflora cinnabarina – South-eastern Australia from northern New South Wales to Victoria.
• Passiflora herbertiana –  Eastern Australia from North Queensland to southern New South Wales.
• Passiflora kuranda – North-east Queensland.

About a dozen exotic species have been introduced to Australia and become naturalised.

Like most members of the genus, Passiflora cinnabarina is a tendril climber – it develops filament-like structures from its stems which attach themselves to branches of other plants, thus providing support. P.cinnabarina is a vigorous climber with tri-lobed leaves which are dark green in colour and up to 100 mm long. The red flowers are seen mainly in spring to summer. The flowers are about 50 mm in diameter and are followed by ovoid, greyish-green fruits about 30 mm in diameter containing greyish pulp and numerous black seeds. The pulp is edible but not especially palatable.

P.cinnabarina is a reliable garden plant in temperate to tropical. It is resistant to at least moderate frost, prefers moist, fairly rich soils, reasonable drainage and can be grown in full sun to semi shade.

The species is readily grown from seed which does not require any special pre-treatment. Propagation can also be carried out using cuttings of firm, current season’s growth.