I'm sure this will be a quick ID for someone. What a showy flower! I had no idea the vines growing around my trash cans all this time were hiding something this extravagant. The whole set of pics is here at Flickr.
Thanks for the ID, everyone. David - a weed? Haha. I finally looked it up, as I've always wondered what makes a plant a weed. Seems the definition is simply an unwanted flower. I guess you're tired of them, but this is the first I've ever seen one (hasn't flowered the past couple of years I've lived at this house), and it's one of the most striking, beautiful, and welcome additions to my land that I could imagine. I was blown away when it made its debut today atop my trashcan, and actually thought it was something fake thrown into the vines at first. I'd be quite pleased to see my lot fill with these. Maybe I'd tire of it, though, if I actually attempted to garden my land, and watched it invasively kill everything else, though I think it'd take several years of that before I got upset enough to find it less than gorgeous :)
it looks like a passion flower but the leaves are different from that of the wild passion fruit species here in the philippines. source: www.stuartxchange.com
gfixler: You are right: "weed" is often used to describe a plant that people don't want. Some people say that weeds are those plants that take over land and rob nutrients from other plants (the plants you do want, usually) but there are plenty of plants we love that can take over a garden if they aren't controlled.
I looked through all of the passion flowers I could find through Google, and the leaves do vary quite a lot. Mine are 5-lobed typically, but can have less, or far more (11 at the most, IIRC). I recall that some had quite different leaves. There are also a few species that don't look much like my flower at all. At least 2 had very vibrant red petals that seemed much longer as the central section was greatly reduced in size from the group my Blue Passion Flower (AKA Hardy Passion Flower) is in. I also wondered if anyone had taken some time-lapse videos, as I was entertaining the notion myself. Here's what I dug up: Time-lapse photography of a passion-flower (Passiflora). Stigmas and anthers are adapted to aid pollination by insects. Passion flower blooming Passion flower opening and closing Passionflower Closing Time Lapse (this one is my species) Time-lapse of a red Passion flower opening and closing. (one of the ones with very long, red petals, and a simpler center section)
Apparently so! I'm curious to try some whenever it decides to appear. Should be fairly soon now. This is a great page on the subject, with my species highlighted: http://erinskitchen.blogspot.com/2006/07/going-local-passion-flower-fruit.html
wait--i now remember finding an exact specimen for the first time 2 months ago in a vacant lot in Las Piñas City here in the Philippines. the fruit was red and about 2" long. i just gave to it my niece to play with. if only i have known that it is edible i would have eaten it. i'm just not sure if it's endemic here. thanks for the info.
I have that "weed".... I encourage it for the caterpillars... Incidentally, you can eat the flowers.... the fruit, not so much... they're kinda like Pomegranate, (the fruit used to make grenadine syrup)... in that the fruit is attached to the seeds... maybe you could juice the passionfruit... the taste isn't anything to write home about either. "Passion" refers to the passion of Christ.... a bunch of Missionaries were looking at the flower one day, and decided they could see the cross, and the 12 disciples.... Woulda liked to get hold of whatever they was smokin.....
