Passiflora foetida also Known as stinking passionflower, wild maracuja, bush passion fruit, wild water lemon, stoneflower,love-in-a-mist, or running pop.
•This passion flower tolerates arid ground, but favours moist areas. It is known to be an invasive species in some areas.
•This plant is also a widely grown perennial climber, and has been used in traditional medicine.
•The stems are thin and wiry, and are covered with minute sticky yellow hairs. Older stems become woody.
•The leaves are three- to five-lobed and viscid-hairy. When crushed, these leaves give off a pungent odor that some people consider unpleasant.
•The flowers are white to pale cream coloured, about 5–6 cm diameter. The fruit is globose, 2–3 cm diameter, yellowish-orange to red when ripe, and has numerous black seeds embedded in the pulp; the fruit are eaten and the seeds dispersed by birds.
•Passiflora foetida has been mentioned as a toxic plant by farmers from northeastern Brazil.
•An experiment done with goats led to the discovery that high levels of cyanide in P. foetida cause poisoning after the ingestion of fresh leaves, mostly during the dry season.
•The fruits are roughly the size of a ping pong ball or kumquat and contain a bluish-white pulp that is mildly sweet and delicately flavored.
•Young leaves and plant tips are also edible. Dry leaves are used in tea in Vietnamese folk medicine to relieve sleeping problems, as well as treatment for itching and coughs.
