South Coast Botanic Garden: Part 1 - Passiflora Misidentified

I went to the South Coast Botanic Garden today as a late birthday adventure. I had been traveling for work for two weeks back-to-back, and since it was both a beautiful day and a day that I could stay away from the office, I decided that it would be fun to traipse around there even if most of the plants weren't in bloom. Chiefly I had seen a P. caerulea picture on Yelp, so I knew there was some hunting to do. There was also a greenhouse that I discovered once there that housed several bromelias, pitcher plants, and many Passiflora especially subgenus decaloba. Many were not in bloom, but it was still fun to play "Where's Waldo". Their name plates (reproduced faithfully) were as follows:

P. Lavendar Lady
P. White Wedding
Gynura aurantiaca 'Purple Passion Vine'
P. hahnii  (=P. guatemalensis)
P. tricuspis
P. lancearia (=P. talamancensis)
P. apetala

Having seen that a couple of the species shared names, and not being as familiar with the decalobas, I returned home to investigate. It turns out that P. hahnii and P. guatemalensis are often confused, but I think I've found the answer.

"P. guatemalensis, common from Mexico to Venezuela, looks very similar to P. hahnii. For a long time they were thought to be one and the same species, and Killip (1938) erroneously mentioned P. guatemalensis as a synonym for P. hahnii. It be distinguished from P. hahnii by its stipules and shorter peduncles, and by the usual lack of extrafloral nectaries at the base of the leaf blade. While in P. guatemalensis the toothed stipules end in filiform appendages, in P. hahnii these are reduced to tiny teeth at most, or a single central tooth. John Vanderplank (1996a) points out that the flowers of P. hahnii appear singly, while in P. guatemalensis they mainly appear in pairs. This is generally true by not as dependable as the structure of the stipule." - MacDougal and Ulmer 2004

Based on the above description of the stipules and this photo, I believe the specimen in the South Coast Botanic Garden to be P. guatemalensis; not P. hahnii.

On to the next odd pair. I've found that P. lancearia is nothing like P. talamancensis, which is a difficult species for which to find information. It does however have almost identical leaves to P. helleri. So, now I have a three-way puzzle to solve. For which, I do not have an answer. Any advice is appreciated.

Another species to check would be P. tricuspis, which is commonly the misidentified P. trifasciata. Again, MacDougal land Ulmer write:

"Occasionally, one comes across a plant cultivated under the name Passiflora tricuspis that is actually P. trifasciata. These sister species can be distinguished by their leaves, though some specimens are more difficult to classify than others. In P. tricuspis, the 2 outer lobes are usually noticeably longer than the middle one."

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture in which to compare the lobes. I did get the contact information for the individual in charge of the greenhouse, so I'll be giving her a call to discuss some of these discrepancies. 

Obviously, Gynura aurantiaca 'Purple Passion Vine' is not a passion vine at all. I don't even know what to make of this, but I hope to get clarification soon.

By the way, I did find P. caerulea when I saw a immature split open fruit on the ground. Upon inspection I found the source to be a rather large vine that had been recently cut back with its surroundings. I'll have to go back sometime later to see it in bloom.

Gulf Fritillary

Before a flock of pigeons flew over and noticeably scared her, there was a gulf fritillary butterfly laying her eggs on my Passiflora. I wonder what she thought when she encountered my collection...perhaps something along the lines of, "Jackpot!" I stood with a camera watching her for 10 minutes or so trying to capture the moment when she stuck her egg to the leaves of my plants. I wasn't as lucky as I hoped, but I did capture a few shots of her and the evidence she left behind.

In Memoriam: Passiflora 'Erl'

My very first original hybrid bloomed today!! It's P. Blue-Eyed Susan x P. Blue Bouquet or if you prefer ((P. incarnata × P. edulis) × (P. incarnata × P. cincinnata)) × (P. caerulea × (P. amethystina × P. caerulea))...all that. For short, I'm going to register it as Passiflora 'Erl'. I've had the name picked for quite some time; ever since I discovered these plants. I wanted to use my very first opportunity to register a hybrid in memoriam of the brother lost to someone very important to me and many others. He drove a baby-blue Mercedes, many years older than he, so in a way it seems fitting. To draw any more analogies would be disparaging. But, if this is the only hybrid that I'm able to contribute to the enthusiast and horticulturist community, then I'm proud that it has this name. I'll distribute it freely, and in my garden and in others P. Erl will live on.

Urban(iana) Garden

Passiflora foetida 'urbaniana' has been blooming for a couple of weeks, but high enough up on the pergola to make taking a picture not simple. There were plenty of buds that were developing and dangling down to head level, so I decided to wait it out. Today I pointed the camera and snapped a couple to find that this dainty little flower has hairy stigma.

Summer Humming

It's a hot one today by Redondo Beach standards; easily into the mid 80's. I trimmed up the Passiflora vines on the pergola because Fall is approaching and I don't need them to get too clustered and consequently sick. Anyway, I was admiring my work when a humming bird came into the yard, took a few drinks from P. racemosa 'buzios', and then landed well very close to me. I was certain if I moved to get the camera that it would zip away, but despite that certainty, I went for it. Sure enough, when I came back with camera already zoomed and in front of my face, it was gone. Then it came right back! It landed a total of three times and I was able to get very close so long as I moved slowly and kept the camera in front of my face. Apparently, they're smart enough to recognize that a face means danger. This was a very cool ending to August.

Yellow is a Bee's Best Friend

A third Passiflora cirrhiflora bud opened today and of course I went bonkers with the camera. I got some good shots including one in particular when a honey bee landed on the corona and took a look around. Since the bee populations have taken a nose dive due to what is referred to as colony collapse disorder, which is just a phrase for something for which no one can agree upon the cause, it's rare to see them. But lately, I've noticed with the citrus smell from P. cirrhiflora, there are a few more bopping about.

Greenhouse

Recently my father and I built a greenhouse in my back yard to replace the flower house that I had originally put up there. The flower house was great last winter. I set it up with the trashcan filled with water and an aquarium heater; some grow lights, and it performed marvelously. Granted, the Winter in Redondo Beach isn't all that severe, but it was warm enough inside to sprout seeds and keep my equatorial species (e.g. P. cirrhiflora and P. serrato-digitata) happy. However, the sun and my constant egress through the zippered door was too much, and it slowly became dilapidated. This Spring I hatched the plan to buy a green house, but there aren't any made for a 5'x5' space that are also free standing. I entertained having one custom built, but the cost of that endeavor was too high. So, this Summer I started thinking about building one. I eventually landed on a supplier for 10 mm thick, twin wall polycarbonate panels for the glazing. To assemble it I purchased a router with a bit large enough to cut a channel in the frame in which the polycarbonate would nest snugly. I purchased some hinges for the door and the roof, which opens using an automatic opener when the temperature is high enough to extend wax filled piston. At my mother's direction I caulked the upward facing edges for the frame to prevent water from rotting out the pressure treated wood. A little weather stripping around the lid and door frame sealed it up except for a pass through for a hose that feeds a mister and an extension cord that powers the fan and lights. I used some plastic scaffolding that was intended for a modular cat tree to build shelves along with some left over polycarbonate. To keep the door shut I attached some magnetic latches to the door and frame. It looks and works great so far. There are already a bunch of seedlings inside. I'll keep monitoring the temperature to make sure the opener is doing its job.

Thanks mom and dad for all the help!