Banana passionfruit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Banana passionfruit is the fruit of several plants in the genus Passiflora, and are therefore related to the passion fruit. They look somewhat like a straight, small banana with rounded ends. It was given this name in New Zealand, where passionfruit are also prevalent. In Hawaii, it is called banana poka. In its Latin American homeland, it is known as curuba, curuba de Castilla, or curuba sabanera blanca (Colombia); tacso, tagso, tauso (Ecuador); parcha (Venezuela), tumbo or curuba (Bolivia); tacso, tumbo, tumbo del norte, trompos, or tintin (Peru).
There are several species of banana passion fruit, for example:
- P. tripartita var. mollissima
- P. tarminiana
Mollissima and its close relative Passiflora mixta are vines with cylindrical stems densely coated with yellow hairs, and are vigorous climbers, growing up to seven metres. The leaves are a shiny green with clearly defined veins, the flower is large, pink and green petalled with a yellow and white centre. The fruit is yellow-orange when ripe and contains a sweet edible orange-coloured pulp with black seeds.
The banana passionfruit is native to the Andean valleys from Venezuela to Peru. It was domesticated around the time of the Spanish Conquest and today it is commonly cultivated and its fruit are regularly sold in local markets. The vine is grown in California as an ornamental under the name "softleaf passionflower". It is grown to some extent in Hawaii and the State of Madras, India. It thrives in the climate of New Zealand, has been grown there, more or less commercially, for several decades, to the point where it is now considered a pest in some areas, as it can smother forest margins and forest regrowth. It is a particular problem in the northern South Island of New Zealand.
P. tripartita var. mollissima and P. tarminiana were until recently considered to be one species, P. mollissima.
