242 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



by yellowish, aromatic, juicy pulp, the flavor of which is rather 

 acid. 



From its native home in Brazil the purple granadilla has been 

 carried to all parts of the world. It attains its greatest impor- 

 tance as an economic plant in Australia, but it is grown also in 

 Ceylon, the Mediterranean region, in the southern United States, 

 and elsewhere. The fruit is used for flavoring sherbets, for 

 confectionery, for icing cakes, for "trifles," a dish composed 

 of sponge-cake, fruits, cream, and white of egg, and for 

 other table purposes. The pulp is also eaten directly from the 

 fruit, after adding a little sugar, or it may be used to prepare a 

 refreshing drink by beating it up in a glass of ice-water and 

 adding a pinch of bicarbonate of soda. 



The term passion-fruit, which is often applied to this species, 

 confuses it with other members of the same genus, many of 

 which are known by the same common name. In order to 

 distinguish between these different species, it is well to adopt 

 a different name for each. P. edulis is called lilikoi in Hawaii. 



In California this fruit is easily grown, but it has not yet 

 reached a position of importance in the markets; indeed, 

 it is rarely seen in them, a condition which contrasts strik- 

 ingly with its prominence in Australia. It withstands light 

 frosts, but when young is injured by temperatures more than 

 one or two degrees below the freezing-point. While it bears 

 abundantly in California, plants grown in Florida have in some 

 instances failed to produce fruits. The reason for this is not 

 definitely known, but it may be due to defective pollination. 

 The pollination of this and other edible-fruited passifloras 

 deserves investigation, for it is probable that the secret of many 

 failures in their cultivation lies in this detail. Paul Knuth, 

 in his " Handbook of Flower Pollination," states that the passi- 

 floras are protandrous (the anthers shedding their pollen before 

 the stigmas are in condition to receive it) and adapted to cross- 

 pollination by humble-bees and humming-birds. In describ- 



