Passiflora mixta | The Italian Collection of Maurizio Vecchia

Passiflora mixta, information, classification, temperatures. etymology of Passiflora mixta. Discover the Italian Passiflora Collection by Maurizio Vecchia.

Passiflora mixta | The Italian Collection of Maurizio Vecchia

Systematics (J. Macdougal et al., 2004)

SUBGENUS: passiflora
SUPERSECTION: tacsonia
SECTION: tacsonia


GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OR ORIGIN:

 Central Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador from 1.300 to 3.300 m of altitude.


MINIMUM TEMPERATURE: 2 °C


IDEAL MINIMUM TEMPERATURE: 5 °C


SYNONYMS:

P. brachychlamys Harms, P. longiflora Lam., P. tacso Cav., P. tomentosa Lam., P. urceolata (Mast.) Killip.


ETYMOLOGY:

From the Latin mixtus, mixed for the mixture of morphological characteristics of various species.


NOTES:

Chromosomes: 2n=18


PHOTOGALLERY:


DESCRIPTION:

It is a very variable species and, for this reason, is the subject of discussion among botanists and taxonomists. It lives naturally at high altitudes, up to 3600 metres, on the mountain ranges that rise between Venezuela and Bolivia. Due to its origins, it is very hardy (2-3°C), so much so that we find it in the gardens of the Côte d'Azur. Like many other similar plants, it suffers more from the excessive summer heat and the lack of a large temperature range between day and night, than the winter cold. In the Po Valley and in central-southern Italy they must, therefore, be placed in the coolest, shadiest areas of the garden.

It is a hairless passionflower with a lively behaviour. Its stems have an angled cross-section. The leaves (9-10 cm in length, up to 14-15 cm in width) are trilobate with the lateral lobes arranged almost at right angles to the central one.

The flower, with a diameter of about 10 cm at its maximum opening, is a deep pink with shades of orange. Like all passionflowers belonging to the subgenus Tacsonia, it has a very long tubiform calyx, about 10 cm from the petiole to the corolla. The latter is made up of pink-orange sepals, and petals of slightly more intense but similar colour. The corona is made up of two series of short dark mauve filaments.

The elongated ovoid fruits, edible and tasty, are yellow when ripe.

It requires well-drained soil, non-excessive watering and a sufficiently large pot, to be taken outdoors during the summer. It is propagated from cuttings. Plants with variable characteristics are obtained by seed.