Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Passiflora caerulea L.

Family

Passifloraceae

Common Names

blue crown passion flower, blue crown passionfruit, blue passion flower, blue passionflower, blue passion-fruit, blue passionfruit, blue-crown passionflower, bluecrown passionflower, Brazilian passion-flower, common passion flower, hardy passionflower, passion flower, passion vine

Origin

Native to South America (i.e. southern Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay).

Naturalised Distribution

Naturalised in many parts of south-eastern Australia (i.e. in eastern New South Wales, southern Victoria and south-eastern South Australia). Also recorded from south-eastern and northern Queensland.

Also naturalised overseas in New Zealand, Hawaii and southern USA (i.e. California, Louisiana and Florida).

Notes

Blue passionflower (Passiflora caerulea) is regarded as an environmental weed in Victoria and some parts of New South Wales. This species is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental, but is more often grown as a rootstock for other cultivated species of passionfruit because of its tolerance to cold and pathogens. It often sprouts from below the graft, growing rapidly and escaping cultivation. It can spread quickly in bushland areas, densely smothering native vegetation.

Blue passionflower (Passiflora caerulea) is currently of most concern in Victoria, where it is seen as a potential threat to one or more vegetation formations. It appears on some local and regional environmental weed lists in this state (e.g. in the Mornington Peninsula Shire and the Goulburn Broken Catchment). It is also regarded as being weedy in the Illawarra region on the southern coast of New South Wales.

In New Zealand, blue passionflower (Passiflora caerulea) is a weed of coastal areas, lowland shrublands and forest margins. It also invades and fills gaps in forests, climbing into the tree canopy and smothering native plants.