Purple Passionflower spotted in Manteo, NC!

Check out this beautiful Purple Passionflower found by bluecoral16 in the Greater NC Spring BioThon: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/49140141

Purple Passionflowers are very intricate and hailed for their beauty usually being included in native botanical gardens, in fact they are my fiancee's favorite flower!
It is a native of the Southeastern U.S. and is easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. but have the propensity to become invasive if introduced into new areas.

The flower aside from being beautiful and exotic has many interesting uses. The Houma, Cherokee and other Native American tribes used purple passionflower for food, drink, and medicinal purposes. The fruits were eaten either raw or boiled to make syrup. A beverage was made from the fruits by crushing and straining the juice. Sometimes the juice was thickened by mixing it with flour or cornmeal. The young shoots and leaves were eaten, cooked with other greens. The roots were used in an infusion to treat boils, and to “draw out inflammation” of wounds from briers or locusts. Babies were given a tea made from the roots to aid in weaning. The roots were beaten with warm water and used as eardrops to treat earaches. Root infusions were used to treat liver problems. Soaking the crushed roots in drinking water made a “blood tonic.” The plant was also used as a sedative to treat nervous conditions. To round everything off it the flower is also a great attractant for butterflies!

Information gathered from the USDA plant guide: https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_pain6.pdf
and the NC Extension Gardner Plant Toolbox: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/passiflora-incarnata/

Posted on 11 de junho de 2020, 03:34 PM by stephen575