WILD WATERMELON (Passiflora Foetida)
This particular plant goes by many other names like Stinking Passion Flower, Love In A Mist and Wild Water Lemon. This is a tropical, tendril climber, which originated from South America and is a member of the Passion flower family. It was introduced into Malaysia more than 200 years ago and now grows wild throughout Malaysia and Singapore. It is the hardiest of vines in the Passifloraceae family. The whole plant has an unpleasant smell. The flower bud and unripe fruit are enclosed in a basket formed from 3 finely subdivided bracts bearing sticky glandular hairs. The flowers are white, small and showy and look like passion fruit flowers. Unripe fruits look like tiny watermelons. The young shoots can be cooked and eaten. The inside of the ripe fruit is a hollow, filled with soft, transparent, sweet pulp full of small black seeds. These are usually eaten by children and birds. The leaves of the plant contain hydrocyanic acid and are poisonous.
Do you know…the name of the passion fruit is derived from the flower of the Passiflora vine, which is a perennial climbing plant with many edible fruits. When Central and South America were colonized by the Spaniards, the Christian priests who came to America were struck by the unusual form of the flower of the Passiflora vine. They saw in it a symbol of Christ’s “passion” and they named it “flor passionis” or passionflower.
Do you know…the name of the passion fruit is derived from the flower of the Passiflora vine, which is a perennial climbing plant with many edible fruits. When Central and South America were colonized by the Spaniards, the Christian priests who came to America were struck by the unusual form of the flower of the Passiflora vine. They saw in it a symbol of Christ’s “passion” and they named it “flor passionis” or passionflower.