Passiflora mixta
NPPA pest plant
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
banana passionfruit
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Lianes & Related Trailing Plants - Dicotyledons
Flower colours
Violet/Purple, White
Detailed description
Vigorous vine. Leaves 3-lobed, up to 10 cm long, pubescent below and almost hairless above. Flowers salmon-pink, and held out on an angle, hypanthium/Sepal ratio 1.6-2.6, hypanthium moderately to densely pubescent. Fruit orange-yellow, oblong and containing sweet orange pulp with black seeds.
Similar taxa
The flowers on this species are held out on an angle, rather than drooping down in most other banana passionfruits. The Hypanthium is moderately to densely hairy, in all other species it is glabrous.
Habitat
Likely to invade forest margins and shrubland, particularly in warmer areas.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ecology
Year naturalised
1970
Origin
Ecuador
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Tolerances
Intolerant of heavy frost. Prefers high light and fertility.
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial. Reproduces by seed and probably vegetatively through stem layering. Birds eat fruit and disperse seed.
Other information
Etymology
passiflora: Passionflower
National Pest Plant Accord species
This plant is listed in the 2020 National Pest Plant Accord. The National Pest Plant Accord (NPPA) is an agreement to prevent the sale and/or distribution of specified pest plants where either formal or casual horticultural trade is the most significant way of spreading the plant in New Zealand. For up to date information and an electronic copy of the 2020 Pest Plant Accord manual (including plant information and images) visit the MPI website.
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
PASMIX
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Heenan, PB; Sykes, WR 2003. Passiflora (Passifloraceae) in New Zealand: a revised key with notes on distribution. NZ J Botany 41: 217-221. DOI: 10.1080/0028825X.2003.9512842