Author: Katherine Salkeld
Common Names:The Yellow Passion Flower
Higher Taxa:
Class:
Order: Passiflorales
Family: Passifloraceae
Tribe: Passifloreae
Genus: Passiflora
Identification:
P.lutea is one of three species of Passiflora that are found growing wild throughout the United States.
The stems of P.lutea are climbing and grow to be about five meters in length. The leaves are palmate and three lobed. They are about two to ten centimeters wide. In fact, the leaves are wider then they are long. When the vine is young the leaves are usually mottled with silvery gray. The lobes are "entire, obtuse with a mucronate apex". The petioles are about one to six centimeters and they are non-glandular. There are one to three flowers in a leaf axil.The sepals are green in color and grow to be about seven to twelve millimeters long. They are slightly pubescent on the back side and are unappendaged. The petals are yellowish to green in color and approximately nine to fifteen millimeters long. The corona filaments are also green but sometimes have purple at the base of the corona. This would give the flower a dark center. The fruit on the P.lutea are black in color when fully mature. The seeds are ovoid, cross-ribbed, and brown in color(Radford,1968).
Geography:
| Area | Status | Reference |
| North America:
Continental US;Canada |
yes | Radford ,1968 |
| Eastern North America:
US east of the Miss.;Ontario and eastern Canada |
yes | Vanderplank,1996 |
| Southeastern US:
AL,AR,DE,DC,FL,GA,KY,MD,NC,SC,TN,VA,WV |
yes | Vanderplank,1996 |
| Southern Appalachian States:
AL,GA,KY,MD,NC,SC,TN,VA,WV |
yes | Vanderplank,1996 |
| Coastal Plain | yes | Duncan and Kartesz, 1981 |
| Piedmont | yes | Duncan and Kartesz, 1981 |
| Blue Ridge Mountains | yes | Duncan and Kartesz, 1981 |
| Cumberland Plateau | yes | Duncan and Kartesz, 1981 |
| Georgia | yes | Duncan and Kartesz, 1981 |
| Clarke Co. | yes | UGA Herbarium |
| Sam's Farm | not seen | Kate Salkeld, Pers. Obs. |
| old field | not seen | Kate Salkeld, Pers. Obs. |
| wetland | ? | |
| woods | not seen | Kate Salkeld, Pers. Obs. |
| 1-Ha. Plot | not seen | Kate Salkeld, Pers.Obs. |
Natural History:
The P. lutea is widespread throughout the United States. It prefers mixed decideous woodland and thickets. The "damp ground from Pennsylvania to Illinois and Kansas, and south to Florida and Texas" are ideal for P. lutea grow wild. These hardy, herbaceous flowers will die to the ground during winter and regrow during early spring. They are able to grow to heights of two or three meters above the ground(Vanderplank, 1996).
Overall, P.luteahas no real value as a garden or potted plant. Perhaps they will be ussefull in making beautiful, intricate hybrids with other species of Passiflora(Vanderplank, 1996).
References:
Duncan, Wibur H., and John T. Kartesz. 1981. Vascular Flora of Georgia. The University of Georgia Press. Athens, GA.
Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. 1968. Manual of Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. University of North Carolina Press. Chapel Hill, NC.
UGA Herbarium Specimens
Vanderplank, John. 1996. Passion Flowers. The MIT Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts.