What design of nature or serendipitous evolutionary event could create a flower of such unusual beauty? Best to describe it in religious terms – the first Europeans to observe the plant did just that. The name is derived from flos passionis, a translation of fior della passione, a popular Italian name which was applied to the plant to signify religious symbolism. And so, both the common and Latin names – passionflower and Passiflora – speak of the mysteries surrounding the Passion of Christ – his period of suffering following the Last Supper leading to Crucifixion. The species name of passionflower “incarnata” means “made of flesh or flesh-colored,” in reference to the fruits also known as maypops or apricot vine.
Passionflower (Passiflora. incarnata) is an herbaceous, perennial vine. The white to blue purple flowers are up to three inches across. It grows along fencerows, roadsides and fields from Pennsylvania to southern Florida, west to east Texas and north to southern Missouri and Ohio. Of about 500 species of Passiflora, mostly from the tropical America’s only two species, our common passionflower and its diminutive relative wild yellow passionflower (P. lutea) with tiny yellow flowers about an inch across, are hardy natives.
In his book Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf John Muir speaks of the apricot vine (maypop) has having a superb flower “and the most delicious fruit I have ever eaten.” At the annual funding-raising auction of the Arkansas Native Plant Society a few years ago, I was the fortunate high bidder on two jars of maypop jelly. I know of no other native fruit whose flavor is best described as “indescribable.”
The best maypop jam recipe can be found in Billy Joe Tatum’s Wildfoods Field Guide and Cookbook (Workman Publishing Co., Inc., New York 1976). Billy Joe’s book transformed wild edible from the realm of survival food to haute cuisine. To make 10 half-pint jars of maypop jam, she combines 5 cups of gently rinsed maypops, with a 1/2 cup of lemon juice, one box of powdered pectin and 7 1/2 cups of sugar. Enough water is added to barely cover the fruit. Standard procedures for making jam are followed. Now out of print, the book can be found wherever used books are sold.
At this time of year, we focus on the beautiful, seemingly other-worldly flowers of passionflower. Come late summer and early fall, remember where those vines are found and turn your attention to another one of America’s forgotten fruits.