Passionflower: Health Benefits, Medicinal Uses, Side Effects

Passionflower is native to eastern and southern North America, as well as Central and South America. The plant is also cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions. The drug material is mainly imported from the USA and India.

In herbal medicine, the whole dried plant is used, but mainly the leaves and thin stems (Passiflorae herba).

Passionflower: special characteristics

Passionflower is a perennial climbing shrub that can grow several meters high. The plant bears hairless, deeply divided, heart-shaped leaves with large stipules.

Flowers as a name giver

The very attractive, radiant flowers are large with white and purple parts. The shape of the flowers is quite peculiar and characteristic – the plant owes its name to the comparison with the passion tools:

  • The threadlike secondary crown as a symbol of the crown of thorns of Jesus Christ.
  • The 5 inner stamens for the stigmata and
  • The 3 pistils with the stigmas for the nails on the cross

The interpretation of the plant and the name derived from it are said to have originated with Catholic missionaries in South America.

The passion flower also bears oval, orange fruits with many seeds and good-tasting yellow flesh. The blooming season of the passion flower is May and June.

Passionflower as a medicine

Component of the drug are the thin, roundish and hollow stem pieces and the leaves about 6-15 cm long, divided into three lobes. The leaves are finely hairy on the underside, and clearly you can see the leaf veins. The smooth tendrils, curled like corkscrews at the end, are conspicuous.

Furthermore, long-stalked large flowers and greenish to brownish fruits with numerous seeds occur.

What do passion flowers smell and taste like?

Passionflower emits a slightly aromatic odor. The taste of passion flower is rather uncharacteristic and bland.