Passiflora Incarnata of the Passifloraceae family:
For those of you who do not know, consider this the coming out party for my intense love of plants. I have many plant darlings these days but none more consistent as the ever lovely passionflower. Apart from being the most divine looking flower in all the land, its medicine provides all the right treats for the over-taxed nervous system of a modern day human. Botanically speaking, passionflower is a short-lived perennial and herbaceous vine native to southeastern North America. Passionflower is deciduous in locations which freeze during the winter months so it uses its subterranean root system to survive the cold season. Its vines will pop out of the spring dirt all around its previous growing site (as well as other random areas) for seasons upon seasons before it suddenly departs the landscape. Thankfully its incredibly unique blooms and deeply lobed leaves make it easy to identify from non-passion-flower species no matter where it decides to grow. Now most of you probably remember from school long ago or one of those fascinating nature documentaries on Netflix that creatures have all sorts of interesting mutualistic relationships. Passionflower is no exception. At the base of every leaf and flower are little glands called extrafloral nectaries. These nectaries provide sweet nectar and residue for ant buddies who in turn help guard the plant from munching predators. Passionflower is hardly the only plant to team up with insect superheroes aka ants, it’s actually somewhat common amongst plants. Once established ants will team up to peel fat little caterpillars off a leaf just so they can toss it overboard… who knew ants got inspiration from pirates?! Anyways nature is cool, moving on… In western herbal traditions the leaves and flowers are a popular remedy for pain, sleep disorders, stress and headaches. Additionally, the fruit of this radiant plant is edible, giving it economic importance within the food industry, mainly in South America. The pulp of the fruit can be enjoyed as a sweet and sour treat. The Cherokee have also been known to boil, fry and eat the young shoots with other greens. My fellow adventurous and herbally inclined population can safely nibble new leaves straight from the plant itself.
Western herbalists use the flowers and leaves medicinally while the Cherokee and Houma use the roots. The Cherokee externally used passionflower roots to draw inflammation out of wounds and placed it within the ear to relieve earaches. The Houma tribe utilized the roots internally as a blood building tonic. Ultimately, passionflower is a well-loved remedy for children, adults and breast feeding mothers alike. It is used in a wide range of formulas such as those designed for headaches, menstrual cramps, anxiety, skeletomuscular pain, stress and insomnia. In regards to insomnia, passionflower specializes in calming the circular thinking you may experience while lying in bed pondering the unpleasant situations of the day you simply cannot seem to let go. Passion flower is a particularly helpful sleep aid because it helps you fall asleep and stay asleep. I personally enjoy a nice passion flower tea whenever I am experiencing annoying mind chatter or stress any hour of the day. Although passionflower is effective at combatting pain in general, it is particularly effective when pain symptoms are accompanied by or exaggerated by overstimulation. Many ladies have experienced relief from moodiness and irritation brought on from PMS and menopause… as a note if you are feeling especially aggravated for the sake of all mankind try combining passionflower and vervain for a potent de-escalator. Teething or generally wild children, poorly slept parents, those with muscle strains, sprains, arthritis, hacking coughs, hypertension, asthma or anxiety could all use some passionflower in their lives, so brew up a batch and let the power of passiflora incarnata lift your burdens away. The only group of people who really need to proceed with caution are those suffering from low blood pressure or a slow heart rate (1). If you feel drawn to passionflower and fall into one or both of those categories simply start slowly with dilute doses, monitor yourself and do your initial try on a day when you have few responsibilities. A bioactive component of passionflower, vitexin which has been found to improve sleep quality, has also been tested for its ability to promote hippocampal neurogenesis with promising results (2). The hippocampus being a brain region with an important role in long-term memory formation and neurogenesis meaning the production of new brain cells (aka neurons) responsible for the inner workings of the mind. Keep in mind that this is only one condensed compound of some 82 active compounds found within passionflower leaves. Another fascinating benefit to note is passionflowers potential anticancer properties with the passiflora alata species appearing to have the most potent cytotoxic effect on cancer cells. For all my phytonutrient nerds out there, apigenin and luteolin were the prominent phytochemicals exhibiting these exceptional cytotoxic effects (3). It is also worth mentioning that passionflower may be effective in treating epilepsy and post-ictal depression (4), neuroses, neuralgia, diabetes, neurasthenia and opioid dependency (5).
Works Cited
1. Blankespoor, J. (n.d.). Passionflower. Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine.
2. Kim, G.-H., Lim, K., Yang, H.S., Lee, J.-K., Kim, Y., Park, S.-K., Kim, S.-H., Park, S., Kim, T.-H., Moon, J.-S., Hwang, I.K., Yoon, Y.S., Seo, H.S., Nam, S.M., Kim, M.-Y., Yoon, S.G., Seong, J.K., Yi, S.S. (2019). Improvement in neurogenesis and memory function be administration of Passiflora incarnata L. extract applied to sleep disorder in rodent models. Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy 98, 27-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jchemneu.2019.03.005
3. Ozarowski, M., Piasecka, A., Paszel-Jaworska, A., Siqueira de A. Chaves, D., Romaniuk, A., Rybczynska, M., Gryszczynska, A., Sawikowska, A., Kachlicki, P., Mikolajczak, P., Seremal-Mrozikiewicz, A., Klejewski, A., Thiem, B. (2018). Comparison of bioactive compounds content in leaf extracts of Passiflora incarnata, P. caerulea and P. alata and in vitro cytotoxic potential on leukemia cell lines. Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia, 28(2),179-191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjp.2018.01.006
4. Singh, B., Singh, D., Goel, R. (2012). Dual protective effect of Passiflora incarnate in epilepsy and associated post-ictal depression. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 139(1), 273-279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2011.11.011
5. Miroddi, M., Calapai, G., Navarra, M., Minciullo, P.L., Gangemi, S. (2013). Passiflora incarnata L.: Ethnopharmacology, clinical application, safety and evaluation of clinical trials. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 150(3), 791-804. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2013.09.047
