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Passionflower family
Passifloraceae
トケイソウ科
A family known for plants with complex flowers resembling clock faces, such as the blue passionflower (Passiflora caerulea). About 27 genera and 900 species are distributed in tropical to subtropical regions, widely cultivated as ornamentals in Japan. Mostly climbing herbs and woody plants with tendrils.
Key Characteristics
- ●Flowers have a corona of filamentous to plate-like structures at the center
- ●Climbing herbs to woody plants with axillary tendrils
- ●Leaves are alternate, often palmately lobed
- ●Fruit is a berry (edible in passion fruit and others)
Morphological Traits
A family may include species with different trait values — multiple values indicate the range within the family.
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf type
Simple / Compound
Venation
Pinnate / Palmate
Leaf margin
Entire
Growth form
Shrub / Tree / Vine
Evergreen/Deciduous
Deciduous
Compound type
Palmate
Leaf dissection
Dissected / Undivided
Stipules
Present / Absent
Flower symmetry
Actinomorphic
Petal count
5 petals / 6 petals / Many
Petal fusion
Free / Fused
Ovary position
Superior
Stamen count
3-4
Plant sex
Dioecious / Hermaphrodite / Monoecious
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Eudicots > Core eudicots > Malpighiales > Passifloraceae
Divergence Era
Paleogene (about 65–55 million years ago)
Representative Genera
Related Evolution Events
- ・Evolution of the corona as a specialized floral structure (adaptation to hummingbirds and butterflies)
- ・Coevolution with Heliconius butterflies
Plants in Passionflower family on this site
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