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Passiflora rubra

Pōkutekute (AT)

Red Passionfruit

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Image:	Leaves, flower, fruit and tendrils	46KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Red Passionfruit, Red-fruited Passionfruit; German Rote Passionsblume

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Pōkutekute (AT AK), Pō‘ue? (MT)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Caribbean - Peru & Brazil

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent (post-1930, ?1950s), Naturalised; Land, lowlands - mountains (++++)

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Medicine; Invasive - serious, Weed - moderate

KEY FEATURES: High-climbing vine. STEM slender, 3-5 angled. LEAVES bilobed, to 10x10cm, dull green; stalk 5cm; tendril axillary, undivided. FLOWER 5cmØ, mainly white - see photo. FRUIT oval, 4x2cm(LxØ), 6-sided, purplish-red, soft, splits when ripe.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
++++	++++	++++	+L	+++	+++	-	-	-

Northern Group: -
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	-	-	-	-	-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Passiflora rubra Linnaeus
TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); DILLENIIDAE; Violales; PASSIFLORACEAE

More Information

SIGNIFICANCE NOTES -
POSITIVE SIGNIFICANCE: Medicine
NEGATIVE SIGNIFICANCE: Invasive - serious, Weed - moderate. Comments: Common throughout horticultural areas where it is a persistent vine. It is a widespread invasive vine in the inland forest of Rarotonga and in teh makatea forest of Atiu. As on 2001 it was localised along one trans-makatea road on Mauke and not yet high-climbing - a control programme had been implemented.

GENERAL NOTE: Not known in Samoa/Tonga or westward. Pest in Cooks. On list to be excluded from French Polynesia (GMcC 6/2005).

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.848 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.817 ?ID Tropica
p.392e Whistler - Ethnobotany of the Cook Islands
p.84 McCormack/Kunzle - Rarotonga's Mountain Tracks and Plants

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM03a, zD05a

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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