Keep Wimberley Beautiful: Yellow Passion Vine

Submitted by Wimberley1 on
By Jackie Mattice
Hays County Master Naturalist
 
While most of the wildflowers are dormant during the heat of July, in the shade of my Escarpment Oak there is a vine with a silver dollar sized intricate yellow-green flower blooming.  This native perennial vine with the unassuming flower is Yellow Passion Vine, Passiflora lutea. 
Upon close examination you will see tightly coiled tendrils that allow the vine to attach to nearby vegetation.  The leaves are uniquely three lobed but it is the flower that amazes me.  There is, in addition to the normal  flower parts of petals, stamen (carrying pollen) and styles (leading to the ovary),  a fringed crown which allows you to readily recognize the flower as one belonging to the passion flower family.
Although there are said to be 500 species of passion flowers throughout the world, only 9 are native to the United States.   On trips to the Carribean, Sea of Cortez and even Australia I have been treated to the local passion fruit.  Alas, the Yellow Passion Flower has a small dark fruit that is not attractive to humans for consumption.

 

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