Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 December 2025 | 17(12): 24144–28147
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9965.17.12.24144-28147
#9965 | Received 29 May 2025 | Final received 24 October 2025 | Finally
accepted 13 December 2025
Passiflora vesicaria var. vesicaria
(Passifloraceae) - a new record for the flora of West
Bengal, India
S. Chowdhury 1 , P. Barua 2 & T.K Paul 3
1 Gustia Main Road, Badu, Barasat, Kolkata, West Bengal 700128, India.
2 Post Graduate Department of
Botany, Bhattadev University, Bajali,
Assam 781325, India.
3 3/1, P.K. Roychowdhury
Ist Bye Lane, P.O. B. Garden, Howrah, West Bengal
711103, India.
1 sambit01@rkmvccrahara.org
(corresponding author), 2 pratikbaruah6@gmail.com, 3 tapaspbsi@gmail.com
Editor: Prishnee
Bissessur, University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius. Date of publication: 26 December 2025 (online & print)
Citation:
Chowdhury, S., P. Barua & T.K Paul (2025). Passiflora vesicaria var.
vesicaria (Passifloraceae)
- a new record for the flora of West Bengal, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 17(12): 24144–28147. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9965.17.12.24144-28147
Copyright: © Chowdhury et al. 2025. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The author (S.C.) expresses gratitude to Prof. Debjyoti Bhattacharyya of Assam University, Assam, for his support and also thankful to Dr. Dilipkumar Undirwade, B.P. Arts, S.M.A. Science & K.K.C. Commerce College, Chalisgaon, Maharashtra for confirming the identity of this species. Thanks to Mr. Sahil Gupta & Mr. Deep Mondal for their support in field collection.
The genus Passiflora
L. (Passifloraceae), native to the New World, tropical,
and subtropical Asia to southwestern Pacific, and naturalized in many countries
beyond their native ranges, is comprised of 603 species (POWO 2025). The
species are mainly herbaceous or woody perennial vines, rarely shrubs or trees.
The vines climb with the help of tendrils and are notable for several unique
traits such as extrafloral or sometimes petiole-based nectaries,
bracts with glandular tips, a raised androgynophore,
and a corona composed of one to seven filamentous rows. Many species also bear flowers
with five-parted calyces and corollas, three united carpels, and five stamens
(Ulmer & Macdougal 2004). As noted by Killip (1938), the genus displays exceptional variability
in leaf form, surpassing most other plant groups in morphological diversity.
In India, the genus Passiflora is represented by 23 species (Santapau & Henry 1973) and very recently Undirwade & Bhuktar (2025)
recorded another species, viz., P. vesicaria
L. var. vesicaria in India, collected from
Maharashtra. In West Bengal, it is represented by six species P. edulis
Sims, P. foetida L., P. napalensis
Wall., P. quadrangularis L., P. suberosa L. and P. subpeltata
Ortega (Das 2015).
During a recent floristic survey
in North 24-Parganas District of West Bengal, a few scattered natural
populations of Passiflora species have
been spotted and collected from different localities. The plant specimen was
photographed using a Nikon D7500, 1400mm lens DSLR camera and dissection was
done under Gemstar stereo zoom microscope. Herbarium specimens have been
prepared by standard herbarium methods (Jain & Rao 1977) and deposited at
Central National Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India (CAL). On a detailed
morphological study with the help of protologue and description by Killip (1938), Feuillet & MacDougal (2003), Vanderplank (2013), and Undirwade
& Bhuktar (2025), it has been identified as Passiflora vesicaria L. var. vesicaria, a native of South America.
Taxonomic Treatment
Passiflora vesicaria
L. in Amoen.
Acad. 5: 382.1760; Vanderplank in Curtis’s Bot.
Mag. 30(4): 349. 2013; Undirwade & Bhuktar in Rheedea 35(1): 28–32.
2025. P. hispida DC. ex Triana
& Planch. in Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot., ser, 5. 17:172.
1873 (Image 1).
Type: Jamaica, without locality, Patrick
Brown s.n. (Holotype annotated by Linnaeus,
Registration no. 508-4074, now in the Swedish Museum of Natural History) (Vanderplank 2013).
Prostrate or climbing herbs with
tendrils, tendrils up to 20 cm long, hairy. Stems herbaceous, climbing;
hirsute, green but turns yellowish at maturity. Leaves alternate, simple,
suborbicular to ovate in outline, base cordate, lamina 5–12 x 6–10 cm,
shallowly 5-lobed, rarely 3-lobed, lobes ovate, apex acute, margins serrulate
to serrate, both sides pubescent, dark green, venations actinodromous,
multi-costate reticulate; petioles slender, 4.5–7 cm
long, hirsute; stipules- pinnatified, glabrous, 6–8
mm long. Flowers axillary, solitary, sometimes two together, 2–4 cm in
diameter; pedicels 2–6 cm long, hirsute; bracts 6–9 cm long, extending over the
berry, pinnatified, persistent, terete, hairy. Calyx
tube short, campanulate; sepals five, basally united, ovate-lanceolate,
1.3–2 x 0.4–0.6 cm. Petals five, oblong-lanceolate, white, 1–1.6 x 0.4–0.5 cm.
Coronal filaments in 3–4 in series, inner series small, purple, 1–2 mm long,
outer series 1.3–1.5 cm long, white with purple tinge. Operculum narrow, 2 mm
long, glabrous, white. Androgynophore brownish-white,
straight, glabrous, 6–10 mm. Anthers dorsifixed,
greenish-yellow, 2–3 mm long. Ovary subglobose, 1–2
mm in diameter, glabrous, carpels three, pale green to yellow; styles three,
4–5 mm long, pubescent near base; stigmas three, capitate. Berries ovoid
to globose, 1.5–2 x 0.8–1 cm, glabrous, enclosed inside bracts, green,
turns orange-yellow at maturity. Seeds oblong to ovate, 3–4 x 1.5–2 mm, dark
brown-black, aril semi-transparent juicy, 0.5 mm in thickness.
Flowering & Fruiting: December
to April.
Habitat: Growing in roadside,
fallow fields, and among scrub jungles.
Distribution: India: Maharashtra,
West Bengal (reported here) (Figure 1); Native of tropical America and West
Indies, introduced in many old-world tropical countries.
Specimen examined: INDIA: West
Bengal, North 24 Parganas District, Bamunmura, 22.70º
N 88.51º E, 20.iv.2025, S. Chowdhury 20 (CAL); N. 24 Parganas, Badu,
22.93º E 88.42º N, 24.iv.2025, S. Chowdhury 21 (CAL); Kamduni,
22.64º N 88.52º E, 04.v.2025, S. Gupta 22 (CAL); Kharibari,
22.56º E 88.36º N, D. Mondal 23 (CAL).
Notes: Passiflora
vesicaria L. var. vesicaria
belongs to the subgenus Passiflora section Dysosmia DC. (Fullet &
MacDougal 2004). This species is a very close relative of P. foetida L. which is widely distributed in most parts of
India. Passiflora vesicaria
var. vesicaria can easily be identified by
having 5-lobed leaves and matured berry orange-yellow in colour,
while its allied species Passiflora foetida var. foetida
has strongly 3-lobed leaves and a mature berry green in colour.
Passiflora vesicaria L. var. vesicaria
differs from P. foetida L. by the following
characters tabulated in Table 1.
FOR FIGURE & IMAGE - -
CLICK HERE FOR FULL PDF
References
Das, S.K. (2015). Passifloraceae, pp. 372–375. In: Paul, T.K., P. Lakshminarashimhan, H.J. Chowdhery,
S.S. Dash & P. Singh (eds.). Flora of West Bengal 2. Botanical
Survey of India, Kolkata.
Feuillet, C.
& J.M. Macdougal (2003). A new
infrageneric classification of Passiflora L. (Passifloraceae). Passiflora 13(2):
34–35, 37–38. https://doi.org/10.2307/3393379
Jain, S.K. &
R.R. Rao (1977). A handbook of field and herbarium
methods. Today and
Tomorrow’s Printers and Publishers, New Delhi.
Killip, E.P. (1938). The American
Species of Passifloraceae. Chicago, US: Field
Museum Natural History, Botanical Series 19: 1–603. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.226
POWO (2025). Plants of the World Online.
https://powo.science.kew.org/. Accessed vii.2025.
Santapau, H. & A.N. Henry (1973). A Dictionary
of Flowering Plants of India, C.S.I.R, New Delhi.
Ulmer, T.
& J.M. Macdougal (2004). Passiflora,
Passion flowers of the World. Timber Press, Portland & Cambridge, 430
pp.
Undirwade, D.N. & A.S. Bhuktar (2025). Addition of Passiflora
vesicaria var. vesicaria
(Passifloraceae) to the Flora of India in Rheedea 35(1): 28–32. https://doi.org/10.22244/rheedea.2025.35.01.06
Vanderplank, J. (2013). A revision of Passiflora section Dysosmia.
Passifloraceae. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine
30(4): 318–387. https://doi.org/10.1111/curt.12050