From Eat the Weeds
and other things, too
by Green Deane
Maypops Mania
Maypops: Food, Fun, Medicine
Maypop, Passiflora incarnata
As popular as they are, Maypops get stepped on a lot, but that doesn’t keep them down.
They are one of five hundred kin in the passion flower family, specifically Passiflora incarnata
(pass-siff-FLOR-ruh in-kar-NAY-tuh.) Passiflora means “passion
flower” and incarnata means “in the flesh.” A
relative, Passiflora edulis (pass-siff-FLOR-ruh
ED-yoo-liss = edible) is used flavor Hawaiian Punch. When the flowering
vine was first discovered by Spanish explorers in Florida in 1529
the shape of the blossom captured their imagination and they described
it as a symbol for the “Passion of Christ.”
Passiflora foetida
Passion flowers do have complex blossoms. P. incarnata
is two to three inches across with 10 white tepals in a shallow bowl
with a fringe of purple and white filaments, called a corona. The
center is a white stigma with five stamens. The vine is long a trailing
with three-lobed leaves. It can grow six feet a season and several feet
wide. The vines blossom for a long time and set fruit over the
same period so one vine can have old and young fruit at the same time.
Shaped like a egg, the fruit starts out green and hollow and eventually
fills with a kind of jelly and seeds while also turning yellow on the
outside. Finding the fruit is rather sporadic since woodland
creatures like them as well and dine at night. Caution: Maypops’ green
skin is edible raw but too many can burn the mouth. The rind is better
cooked. The pulp-covered seeds in a green or yellow maypop are quite
edible.
“Maypops” is a two-season name. Here in Florida and
other parts of the south they can blossom in May. But the fruits don’t
get big enough to step on and “pop” until June or July. The name comes
from “maracock” which is what the Powhatan Indians called it. And
though thought of a “southern” wild fruit, Maypops grow as far north as
Pennsylvania and west to Kansas, south to Texas, central Florida and
Bermuda. Under cultivation P. incarnata
likes full sun to partial shade, light, evenly moist soil. Deciduous,
it can take temperatures down to 5F. In the wild they grow in sunny
areas with good drainage, at the top of a berm, not the bottom. Many
caterpillars like the Maypop including the Gulf Fritillary and Zebra
Wing Butterfly.
Passiflora lutea
If you find a tiny passion flower that is off yellow with small fruit that’s deep purple/black when ripe, it’s the Passiflora lutea
(LOO-tee-uh = yellow) edible but not too tasty, used to make ink. It
likes to grow in wet areas. Don’t mistake it for a wild cucumber, Melothria pendula, which have leaves that smell like cucumber. When M. pendula’s fruit is black it is the mother of all laxatives. The Passiflora suberosa (sou-ber-OH-sah = corky) with blue fruit is also edible (the fruit). The Passiflora foetida, common in south Florida, has red fruit as is edible as well, quite tasty with very thin skin.
Oddly,
while native to North America, Maypops are far more popular in Europe.
Americans used make jelly out of them, the Indians cooked the leaves in
fat. Europeans currently make pharmaceuticals. The fresh and
dried whole plant has been used to treat nervous anxiety and insomnia.
It is the most common ingredient in herbal sedatives in Europe. In
Europe a teaspoon of dried, ground plant is used in a tea. Even a
sedative gum has been made with Maypop. The active ingredient(s) is
unknown. See the “herb blurb” below. Perhaps the Maypop vine is
medicinal: It smells and tastes bad, as does most medicine that is good
for you. What does the vine smell like? Like an old rubber shoe. The
fruit, fortunately, does not share that…. too much. Oh, and this
will not make sense until you consider the general shape of the leaves
and fruit: The Maypop is a relative of the papaya.
Other Passifloras with edible fruit include: P.
alata, P. ambigua, P. ampullacea, P. antioquiensis, P. caerulea, P.
coccinea, P. cumbalensis, P. x decaisneana, P. edulis f.
flavicarpa, P. laurifolia, P. lingularis, P. maliformis, P.
manicata, P. mixta, P. mollissima, P. organensis, P. pinnatistipula, P.
platyloba, P. popenovii, P. quadrangularis, P. serrato-digitata, P.
tripartita, and P. vitifolia.
Lastly,
the Internet is the Great Garbage Can of Misinformation and amateur
writers. Of late sites have been proliferating the nonsense that Passiflora incarnata
has cyanide in it. It categorically does not. The American
Pharmaceutical Association Practical Guide to Natural Medicines by
Andrea Peirce states: “Unlike other Passiflora species, … [the]
Passionflower does not contain the poison cyanide, as some sources
incorrectly suggest; they may have mistaken Passiflora incarnata for Passiflora caerulea, the ornamental blue passionflower that does contain this toxin.”
Passiflora foetida also
has some cyanide in it as evidence by some research on goats feeding on
the foliage. However, I have eaten a fruit or two at a time with no
problem. Goats, of course, eat leaves so they can get a higher
concentration of cyanide. The passion fruit used in Hawaiian Punch, Passiflora edulis, has to be limited to goats as well, less than 45 percent of their feed.
I
would add that cooking or sometimes mascerating green parts of edible
plants with small small amounts of hydro- or glycocyanides releases the
cyanide. Also note the “Herb Blurb” below. P. incarnata has some MAO inhibitors. MAO inhibitors and chocolate should not be combined.
Maypop Jelly
2 cups ripe maypops, sliced
1 cup water
2-1/2 cups sugar
1-3/4 ounces pectin
Combine
the maypops and water, and boil gently for five minutes. Strain,
discarding the pulp. Combine the liquid and sugar and bring to full
rolling boil. Add pectin, and again bring to rolling boil. Remove from
heat, pour into hot, sterilized jars, and seal. Makes 2-1/2 pints.
Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile
Identification: (Passiflora incarnata)
The passion flower is a woody vine that grows up to 30 feet long and
climbs with tendrils. It has striking, large white flowers with pink or
purple centers. Leaves are three lobed and the fruit egg-shaped going
from green to yellow or orange when ripe.
Time of year:
In Florida it starts fruiting in June with early fruit ripening around
August. Farther north the ripening is towards fall. Can be propagated
by seed or cutting, cuttings are slow to root.
Environment:
Maypops grow in thickets, disturbed ground, unkept pastures, roadsides
and railroads. They like full sun and water but good drainage. You will
not find them in damp areas.
Method of preparation:
Green and yellow ripe maypops off the vine, though larger green ones
are better than small ones. They can be made in to a jelly or a
marmalade. Green ones better cooked than raw, yellow ones are nice raw.
Leaves can be cooked like a green. With other passionflower eat only
the fruit.
Herb Blurb:
According
to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Website: Derived from the
aerial parts of the plant. Patients use this herb to treat insomnia,
anxiety, epilepsy, neuralgia, and withdrawal syndromes from opiates or
benzodiazepines. The active component of passionflower is unknown. The
alkaloid components (e.g. harman, harmaline) are thought to produce
monoamine oxidase inhibition, while the maltol and gamma-pyrone
derivatives cause activation of GABA receptors. Reported adverse
events include sedation, dizziness, impaired cognitive function, and
one case report of nausea, vomiting, and ECG changes. All adverse
events subside following discontinuation of passionflower.
Theoretically, passionflower may potentiate the sedative effect of
centrally acting substances (e.g. benzodiazepines, barbiturates,
alcohol). A small pilot study evaluated passionflower for
generalized anxiety and showed comparable efficacy to oxazepam, but
a systematic review concluded that randomized controlled studies are
needed to confirm such effects. Passionflower may be of use in
combination with clonidine for opiate detoxification, but additional
research is required. No standardization exists for passionflower
extract, therefore dosages and activities may vary.
Green Deane's
Disclaimer
Information
contained on this website is strictly and categorically intended as a
reference to be used in conjunction with experts in your area. Foraging
should never begin without the guidance and approval of a local plant
specialist. The providers of this website accept no liability for the
use or misuse of information contained in this website.
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