How to Harvest Passion Vine Seeds

Passion vine--scientifically known as Passiflora incarnata, and also called the passion flower, the granadilla, and the maypop--is a perennial plant native to the southeastern United States. It features attractive evergreen foliage, edible fruit, and fragrant, exotic-looking purple and white flowers, with a ruffled fringe around the center. A subtropical plant, the passion vine thrives in frost-free areas such as Florida and the Gulf Coast, where it is often trained to ramble picturesquely over fences, archways and trellises. In addition to the purple-blooming passion vine, there is also a yellow cultivar, which is more susceptible to cold weather than its relative. The seeds of the passion vine can be harvested from the fruit. By following some guidelines for proper harvesting, you can gather and prepare passion vine seeds to create a new generation of these unusual flowers.

Sharp, clean knife
Wire strainer
Paper towel
1 cup of water

Instructions

- 1
  Provide your passion vine with other vines nearby to assist in pollination; some passion vine varieties won't bear seed unless fertilized by another vine. Keep in mind that passion vines must be between two and three years old before they can produce fruit.
- 2
  Be on the lookout for the fruits of the passion vine, which appear in spring and ripen in the fall. Depending on the cultivar, the fruits will be purple and plum-like or golden yellow, and slightly larger than a chicken egg. The seeds--up to 250 of them--are stored inside the inner cavity, along with the translucent, jelly-like fruit.
- 3
  Gather the passion vine fruits from the ground in early autumn, waiting until they are significantly overripe and have fallen off the vine by themselves.
- 4
  Use a sharp, clean knife to cut the fruit open. Scoop out the seeds form the soft fruit that surrounds them, put them in a wire strainer and run water over them while rubbing them against the screen.
- 5
  Place the seeds on a paper towel when the water runs clear. Remove the remainder of the fruit by rubbing the seeds againsrt each other.
- 6
  Place the passion vine seeds them in a cup of water to determine their capacity to germinate. If the seeds are viable, they will sink; if not, theuy will float. Discard any seeds that are floating.
- 7
  Plant the passion vine seeds immediately after harvest for best germination. According to the California Rare Fruit Growers website, cleaned and stored seeds have a lower and slower rate of germination.

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