Passiflora lancearia | The Italian Collection of Maurizio Vecchia

DESCRIPTION:

The leaves of P. lancearia are bright light green, shiny and slightly leathery. The three main ribs enrich and decorate the surface, imparting even more elegance. It is also hardy: in fact, it resists temperatures close to 4°C, so much so that it could be grown in Liguria and in other mild climatic areas of our peninsula. It is native to the mountains of Costa Rica, Panama and Ecuador, where it lives at altitudes of up to 1700 metres.

Although it was classified in 1885, it is still a largely unknown passionflower, one we should experiment with and disseminate for both its very decorative bearing and appearance.

The leaves, in their whole form, have nothing in common with those typical of the subgenus to which it belongs. However, if one observes them carefully, a hint of the two lateral lobes can be glimpsed near the apex, made evanescent by the protrusion of the narrow central lobe. The typical rows of leaf glands running between the two lateral and median ribs reveal even more P. lancearia's belonging to the subgenus Decaloba/Decaloba/Decaloba.

The flowers are white and not very large, only 3-4 cm in diameter. The corona is formed by 4 series of filiform, thin filaments, dark purple at their base. It produces ovoid fruits with a diameter of 3 cm.

Cultivation presents no problems, as long as well-drained soil is used and you do not overdo the watering, especially in the winter season.

It is propagated by seed and cuttings.