Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa – Lilikoi This naturalized ornamental garden plant and food plant is native to the Amazon region in Brazil. The unusual flowers are up to 3 1/2 inches (9 cm) across and have a light green center, long, white, curly filaments, and 10 white tepals (5 petals and 5 petal-like sepals) with dark purple at their base. The flowers are followed by round to egg-shaped, up to 3 1/2 inch (9 cm) in diameter, yellow fruit with soft, loose, juicy, yellow to orange pulp surrounding black seeds. The leaves are shiny, green, alternate, and deeply 3-lobed with 3 egg-shaped, saw-toothed lobes. The stems have coiling tendrils and are slender, green at the tips, and woody at the base. These plants can grow rampantly and smother small trees and shrubs. Lilikoi grows in sunny locations in low to middle elevation, mesic (moderately wet) forests and shrublands. Purple Granadilla (Passiflora edulis) has smaller, sweet, dull purple fruit, while Lilikoi (P. edulis f. flavicarpa) has larger, tart, yellow fruit and is more common here in Hawaii. Lilikoi is a larval food plant for Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) butterflies. The tart, highly flavorful fruit pulp is edible either raw or cooked. It has a musky, somewhat guava-like fragrance and is quite delicious. The pulp can be eaten fresh along with the seeds or strained and made into juice or syrup for flavoring deserts. Here in Hawaii, Lilikoi is commonly used to flavor shave ice, a popular Hawaiian treat.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 04:58:16 +0000
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