Passiflora foetida (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Passiflora foetida L.

Family: Passifloraceae

Vernacular names

• Stinking passion vine, wild water lemon (En)
• Passiflore fétide (Fr)
• Indonesia: cheplukan blungsun (Java), ermut, rajutan (Sundanese)
• Malaysia: timun dendang, timun padang, timun hutan
• Philippines: kurunggut (Bikol), masaflora (Ilokano), taungon (Bisaya)
• Thailand: ka thok rok (central), kra prong thong (peninsular), thao sing to (Chai Nat)
• Vietnam: lac tiên.

Distribution

Probably originating from South America, now cultivated and often naturalized in most tropical countries, also in South-East Asia.

Uses

The ripe fruits are eaten raw. They are sweet and juicy. Unripe fruits are poisonous. Also used as hedge plant and as ground cover in agriculture.

Observations

• Climbing herb, leaves usually 3-lobed, 4-5 cm long, foul-smelling when crushed.
• Flowers 2.5-5 cm in diameter, whitish-purplish.
• Fruit a subglobose berry, about 2 cm diameter, yellow to orange.

Often a common weed, up to 1500 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd ed. 2 Volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.

• Mansfeld, R. & Schultze Motel, J., 1986. Verzeichnis landwirtschaftlicher und gärtnerischer Kuturpflanzen. 2nd ed. 4 Volumes. Springer Verlag, Berlin. 1998 pp.

• Martin, F.W. & Nakasone, H.Y., 1970. The edible species of Passiflora. Economic Botany 24: 333-343.

• van Steenis, C.G.G.J. et al. (Editors), 1950-. Flora Malesiana. Series 1. Vol. 1, 4-10. Centre for Research and Development in Biology, Bogor, Indonesia, and Rijksherbarium, Leiden, the Netherlands. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen, J. Jukema, L.P.A. Oyen, T.G. van Lingen