Passiflora · Passion Flower

Botany — the vine of five hundred species

Passiflora incarnata — purple passionflower, or maypop — is a perennial vine native to the southeastern United States. It is the state wildflower of Tennessee. The genus *Passiflora* counts around 500 species, almost all native to the New World tropics (the Caribbean, Central America and, above all, South America). P. incarnata is the main medicinal species; P. edulis gives the commercial passion fruit (maracujá).

The name "maypop" is English: the ripe fruit makes a loud pop when stepped on — a country onomatopoeia of the American Southeast.

The flower is strikingly complex: layered crowns (the corona of filaments), pistils, stigmas and stamens in purple and white.

A major ecological role: P. incarnata is a host plant for the caterpillars of several American butterflies — the Gulf Fritillary, the Zebra Longwing and the Variegated Fritillary. The leaves contain defensive compounds that make the caterpillars toxic to predators, while the caterpillars themselves withstand these defences.

Beware the confusion: Passiflora caerulea, the ornamental blue passionflower (from South America, widely grown in European gardens), is a different species, and the herbal tradition belongs to P. incarnata. Many European gardeners grow P. caerulea for its flower without knowing that the herbal use lies with its American cousin. P. incarnata is the species INFUSE offers — an important detail for sourcing.

A long history — Cherokee, Villegas, pharmacopoeia

The history of passionflower is one of sweeping symbolic reappropriations.

Cherokee: for the Cherokee of the southeastern United States, the maypop — uwa'ga in Cherokee — is a food and medicinal plant. Documented uses cover food (the fruit, eaten raw or as juice, and the young shoots, boiled and fried) and medicine (the pounded roots for the skin, the liver and earache, and to help wean babies). The Houma of Louisiana drank a root infusion as a blood tonic. The Ocoee River in Tennessee takes its name from Uwagâ'hi, "the place of the maypop", and hosted the whitewater slalom events of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Villegas and Bosio, 1609–1610: around 1609, Emmanuel de Villegas, an Augustinian friar in Mexico, sent drawings of the flower to Rome, reading in it the instruments of Christ's Passion. In 1610, Giacomo Bosio, historian of the Order of Malta, published them in his treatise on the Cross (La trionfante e gloriosa croce), and the allegory spread across Catholic Europe.

Modern pharmacopoeia: passionflower reached European gardens in the 17th century as a botanical curiosity. Today it has a monograph in the European Pharmacopoeia, and both the German Commission E and the European Medicines Agency have published monographs on it.

Darwin: Charles Darwin was fascinated by passionflower tendrils. In The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants (1875), he describes the tendrils of Passiflora gracilis, remarkably sensitive to touch, which sweep the air in search of a hold.

Safety notes

Passionflower is generally well tolerated at traditional doses. Documented precautions:

• —Pregnancy and breastfeeding: to be avoided — solid data are lacking, and some sources mention a theoretical mild effect on the uterus.
• —Sedatives, benzodiazepines, prescription sleeping pills: documented potentiation — combine only with caution, and always under medical supervision.
• —Alcohol: potentiation — avoid the combination.
• —MAOIs (monoamine oxidase inhibitors): to be avoided (Winston & Maimes, p. 226).
• —Anticoagulants (warfarin, aspirin, clopidogrel): caution — theoretical risk of potentiation.
• —Before scheduled surgery: stop at least 2 weeks beforehand.
• —Driving and operating machinery: to be avoided after taking it (possible sedative effect).
• —Allergy to the passionflower family (Passifloraceae): very rare but possible.

Possible side effects at high doses: mild headaches, digestive upset (rare in the literature). Long-term tolerance is poorly documented.

Do your own research (DYOR): consulting a health professional is recommended in case of a medical condition or ongoing treatment, and before stopping any psychotropic medication.