Yellow Passionfruit Ideal for Florida Home Gardens
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320 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1967 3. Lyon, T. T. 1897. Catalog of fruits. U.S. Dept. Agr. 7. Reasoner, P. W. 1887. Report on the condition of Divn. Pomol. Bui. No. 6: 36. tropical and semitropical fruits in the United States in 1887. 4. McAdow, M. A. 1914. Ornamentals. Proc. Fla. State U. S. Dept. Agr., Divn. Pomol. Bui. No. 1: 14. Hort. Soc. 27: 159-167. 8. Reitz, H. J., et al. 1964. Recommended fertilizers 5. Mowrey, et al. Rev. G. D. Ruehle. 1967. Miscellaneous and nutritional sprays for citrus. Fla. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. tropical and subtropical Florida fruits. Fla. Agr. Ext. Serv. 536B. Bui. 156A: 34-37. 9. Young, T. W. 1967. Fertilizing mango trees in 6. Popenoe, W. 1939. Manual of tropical and subtropical Florida. Sub-Tropical Exp. Sta. Mimeo. Rept. SUB 68-1. fruits. The MacMillan Co., New York: 340-343. YELLOW PASSIONFRUIT IDEAL FOR FLORIDA HOME GARDENS Julia F. Morton The nearly round fruit, 1% to 21/£ inches wide, has a tough rind, smooth, waxy and ranging in Morton Collectanea hue from light-yellow to pumpkin-color. Within University of Miami is an aromatic mass of membraneous sacs filled Coral Gables with orange-colored, pulpy juice and as many as 250 small, dark-brown seeds. The flavor is Over the past three years, Florida home musky, guava-like and very acid. owners have become increasingly distressed by the Caribbean fruit fly infestation of their door- History and Status yard fruits. Inasmuch as there is no immediate prospect of effective control of this insect, it The yellow passionfruit was, until recent seems appropriate to recommend a fruit that years, largely overshadowed by the purple pas appears to be unaffected by it—a fruit which sionfruit (Passiflora edulis Sims.), a native of provides an attractive and flavorful juice, and southern Brazil widely esteemed for its agree which is advancing horticulturally in other able, less acid flavor (101). It has been stated countries. that the yellow form is of unknown origin, but in recent Colombian writings it is presumed to be native to the Amazon region of Brazil. Spec Colloquial Names and Description ulation as to Australian origin (2) arose The yellow passionfruit (Passiflora edulis f. through the introduction of seeds from that flavicarpa Deg.) has a number of colloquial country into Hawaii and the United States by names such as ceibey in Cuba, maracuja peroba E. N. Eeasoner in 1923. in Brazil, parchita maracuya, or simply parch- Brazil has long had a well-established pas ita, in Venezuela, parcha in Puerto Rico, yellow sionfruit industry with large-scale juice extrac granadilla in South Africa, grenadille or couzou tion plants. The purple passionfruit is there in French-speaking countries, yellow lilikoi in preferred for consuming fresh; the yellow for Hawaii, and golden passionfruit in Australia. juice processing and the making of preserves It is borne by a woody, perennial vine, climb (65). Strains being grown for these purposes ing by means of tendrils. The evergreen leaves include "Ouropretano", "Muico", "Peroba" and are glossy, deeply 3-lobed, finely toothed, 3 to 8 "Pintado" (113). inches long and, like the young stems and tend In Australia, the purple passionfruit was rils, tinged with red or purple. A single, fra flourishing and partially naturalized in coastal grant flower, 2 to 3 inches wide, is borne at areas of Queensland before 1900. Its cultiva each node on the new growth. The bloom, which tion, especially on abandoned banana planta opens about noon and closes in late evening, tions, attained great importance and the crop consists of 5 white sepals, 5 white petals, a was considered relatively disease-free and easily fringe-like corona of straight, white-tipped rays, managed. However, about 1943, a widespread rich purple at the base; also 5 stamens with invasion of Fusarium wilt killed the vines and large anthers, the ovary, and triple-branched forced the undertaking of research to find style forming a prominent central structure. fungus-resistant substitutes. It was discovered MORTON: YELLOW PASSIONFRUIT 321 that the neglected yellow passionfruit is both New Zealand, in the early 1930's, had a wilt- and nematode-resistant and does not sucker small but thriving purple passionfruit industry from the roots (66). It was adopted as a root- in Auckland Province but in a few years the stock and plants propagated by grafting were disease-susceptibility of this type brought about soon made available to planters. its decline (43). Good local marketing and ex The Australian taste is strongly prejudiced port prospects have brought about a revival of in favor of the purple passionfruit and growers efforts to control infestations and increase acre have been reluctant to relinquish it altogether. age, mostly in the Bay of Plenty region (40). Only in the last few years have they begun to In Hawaii, seeds of the purple passionfruit, adopt hybrids of the purple and yellow which brought from Australia, were first planted in have shown some ability to withstand the ser 1880 and the vine came to be popular in home ious virus disease called "woodiness" (14). In gardens. In the 1940's a Mr. Haley attempted the current year, 2 hybrids—"3-1" and "3-26"— to market canned passionfruit juice in a small developed at the Redlands Horticulture Research way but the product was unsatisfactory and his Station, have nearly replaced the purple pas effort was terminated by World War II. A sionfruit commercially on the coast of southern processor on Kauai produced a concentrate in Queensland. They have a longer fruiting sea glass jars and this project, though small, proved son, are high-yielding, with high pulp content, successful. In 1951, when Hawaiian passion keep very well and meet with little market fruit plantings totalled less than 5 acres, the resistance. Australian breeders are still striv University of Hawaii chose this fruit as the ing for a type that will have the needed char most promising crop for development and under acteristics and reproduce true from seed (14, took to create an industry based on quick-frozen 21). passionfruit juice concentrate. From among Fig. 1.—Flower of yellow passionfruit (open noon to evening) has rich purple coloring on bases of corona filaments. In flower of purple passionfruit (open from dawn to near-noon), this area is pale. —Photo by Julia Morton. 322 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1967 Fig. 2.—Yellow passionfruit (Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa Deg.). The thick, protective rind bears fine white dots when green; is clear-yellow when fruit is ripe. (From vine of Mrs. G. Fleischer, Nov. 1961). —Photo by Julia Morton. Mr. Haley's vines, choice strains of yellow pas Production was doubled by 1950 (38). In 1965, sionfruit were selected. These gave yields of passionfruit plantations were initiated over 40,000 pounds of fruit per acre with 35% juice large areas of the Transvaal to meet the market content, as compared with purple passionfruit demand and apparently there have been no ser yields averaging less than 10,000 pounds of ious setbacks as yet, from disease or other fruit per acre, with a juice content of 25%. causes. By 1958, 1,200 acres were devoted to yellow India, for many years, has enjoyed a mod passionfruit production and the industry was erate harvest of purple passionfruits and the firmly established on a satisfactory economic vine seems to be particularly healthy and pro level (115). ductive at altitudes between 2,000 and 4,000 ft. South Africa in 1947 produced 2,000 tons of In many areas, it has run wild. The yellow purple passionfruit for domestic consumption. form was unknown in India until just a few MORTON: YELLOW PASSIONFRUIT 323 Fig. 3.—Clothesline of Mrs. Gisella Fleischer, 6620 S. W. 71st Ct., Miami, has served as passionvine trellis for more than seven years. —Photo by Julia Morton. years ago when it was introduced from Ceylon Since the introduction of the yellow passion and proved well adapted to low elevations in fruit from Brazil into Venezuela in 1954, it has South India. It was quickly approved as having achieved industrial status and national popu a more pronounced flavor than the purple and larity. Venezuelan production in 1966 amounted producing within a year of planting heavier to 3,600 long tons (23). Much effort is being and more regular crops (117). devoted to improving the yield to better meet Passionfruit vines are found wild and culti the demand for the extracted juice, passionfruit vated to some extent in other parts of the Old ice cream, and other appealing products such World—including Java, Sumatra, Malaya, Ken as bottled passionfruit-and-rum cocktail. The ya, Papua and New Guinea, Fiji, and Formosa. strains grown are known as "Brasilera amaril- From the last 5 sources considerable quantities la", "Brasilera rosada", and "Hawaiiana" (82). of yellow passionfruit juice and pulp are ex Such enterprise is in marked contrast to the ported to Australia, causing some protests from general lack of enthusiasm for the passionfruit Queensland growers (18, 53, 61). which has prevailed in the West Indies, the In South America, interest in yellow passion Bahamas and Florida. In this State, where fruit culture has recently intensified in Colombia much energy has been spent in the extolling and Venezuela. In Colombia, trial plantings in of less worthy fruits, the failure to appreciate the Cauca Valley in mid-1963 yielded in 10 the passionfruit is rather surprising. In the months, producing 12 tons per hectare, and a Index to the Proceedings of the Florida State second crop was harvested the same year. The Horticultural Society through Volume 68, it ap best performing variety proved to be the pears only once and this solitary citation merely "Hawaiiana".