HOw To PASSION FLOWER, MAYPOP, APRICOT VINE, MAY APPLE

After my blog post the other day about the unknown flower, which has since been identified by all you wonderful readers, I have been doing some online research and learned all sorts of fun facts.  Turns out this wild variation of Passion Flower, which later develops into a fruit, is closely related to the more common Passion Fruit (they are cousins).  It goes by a number of names when it grows wild: Wild Passionflower, Maypop, Apricot Vine, Mayapple, MollyPop, Maycock, Old Field Apricot, and White Sarsaparilla.  Who knew?



They bloom from May thru September, and then edible fruits emerge about two to three months after the flowers.  The fruit is sweet smelling, yellowish, and about the size of an egg when ready to eat and are pulpy and sweet inside.  They also "pop" when squeezed or stepped on, hence the "Maypop" name.

It is a perennial vine in the Southern US, and grows wild in these parts pretty much anywhere...on the side of the road, old railways, bridges, thickets and, apparently, unmowed farm pastures just outside of Houston, LOL!

I'm excited to discover these new things on the property that I didn't know were there.  Even more excited that it's something edible.  I'm sure if I deliberately tried to cultivate them, it would be an epic failure, ha.  The vines can be up to 20 feet long and are spread by underground roots.

Vintage Mayflower illustration, image courtesy of Wikipedia
Sometimes, it's Mother Nature that does it best.  I'll just mark where they are and check in from time to time and see how the fruits are doing.  It's too far from the water source on the farm to try to water it myself, though if we have another drought, I might be persuaded to carry some water to the main vine and try to baby it along...assuming of course I could ever even find where the main vine starts!  Thanks again to everyone who commented and taught me what this was, it's great to learn just one more little thing about the property.

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