Tennessee Native Plant Society
Native Plant of the Month
SEPTEMBER, 2006
Passionflower, Maypops
Passiflora incarnata
The state wildflower of Tennessee, passionflower is a climbing or trailing vine to 30 feet with deeply
three-lobed leaves. It is widespread throughout the state occurring in fields, fence rows, and roadsides. The
flowers are 3 inches in diameter with the 5 sepals and 5 petals serving as a backdrop for the strikingly
beautiful corona of thread-like fringes that form circular bands of purple and white. In late summer and fall,
the edible fruits ripen with a sweet gelatinous substance covering the seeds.
The plant gets its common name from the arrangement of the reproductive parts of the flower resembling a
crucifix, which early missionaries used as a visual to explain the Crucifixion to Native Americans.
The genus Passiflora is a mainly tropical group of plants, however, two species can be found in Tennessee.
