Passiflora macrophylla Spruce ex Mast. (1883: 31)

Kuethe, J. R., Cornejo, Xavier, Garzón-Suárez, Henry X., Jiménez, Marco M., Wettges, Martin, Magdalena, Carlos, Mejía-Pazos, Nicanor, Flores, Juan Carlos Espín & Decoux, Jose, 2025, Passionflower trees of Ecuador: revising the presence of Passiflora subg. Astrophea (Passifloraceae) and including resolution to the P. putumayensis and P. macrophylla taxonomic complexes, Phytotaxa 697 (2), pp. 147-165 : 153

2. Passiflora macrophylla Spruce ex Mast. (1883: 31) ( Figure 3a,c,e )

Type:— ECUADOR. Manabí: Peripa at Río Daule , 00°47’44”S 79°53’12”W, 200 m, September 1876 (fl.), André 4227 (lectotype: K 323444 !, designated here; isolectotype: NY 00110450 !) .

Description:—Small wooded or treelet, sparingly branched, 1.0 to 2 meters high, without tendrils, glabrous to glaucous throughout. Stems and branchlets subterete to terete, wooded. Stipules absent or very soon deciduous, when present setaceous, scale-like, 1 mm, green, coriaceous. Petioles 3–7 cm long, very sturdy, glaucous to glabrescent; with a single pair of scarlike glands positioned at the base of the blade. Leaves enormous, oblong-obovate or oblong, 70–170 cm long, 30–70 cm wide, rounded to emarginate at apex, occasionally acuminate, rounded to cuneate at base, penninerved, texture membranous when young, becoming thick chartaceous when mature, glabrous on both sides, a deep green above, glaucous beneath, occasionally deciduous during dry spells. Inflorescence axillary, pendent to semi-pendent curving upwards for the flowers to face upwards to subhorizontal, bearing a single peduncle with multiple branching pedicels totalling up to 8 flowers per node. Peduncles twice dichotomous, the common peduncle up to 15 cm long, the bifurcated part up to 5–7 cm long. Flowers facing upwards, white with dark yellow to orange corona, 8–10 cm wide measured from tip to tip, weakly scented; hypanthium campanulate, 5–6 cm long, 7–10 mm in diameter, base slightly narrowing, rounded, greenish white on the outside, whitish-yellow within; sepals linear-oblong, 3.2–4.5 cm long, 7–9 mm wide, rounded at apex, slightly concave, ecorniculate, membranous, strongly reflexed upon anthesis, greenish-white without, white within; petals subequal to the sepals, 3.0– 4.4 cm long, 7–8 mm wide, highly membranous, white, reflexed; corona filaments in two series, dark yellow to orange yellow, outfacing throughout, wavy to frilly; the outer series conspicuous, 2.5–3.3 cm long, slightly widened just below the apex, flattened in cross-section, frilly throughout, giving a zigzag pattern of 4–5 near-acute angles, dark yellow becoming orange in upper 2/3; the inner series filamentose with distinct ligulate filaments, 0.8–1 mm long, erect but slightly curved towards apex, deep yellow to light orange towards apex; operculum borne near the middle of the hypanthium, filamentose with closely fused filaments in lower third, inclined, cleft upwards surrounding the base of the androgynophore to form a physical barrier, 0.8–1 mm long, yellow to light yellow throughout; limen absent; nectar chamber hollow, yellowish-white; androgynophore stout, greenish-white, 6 cm long; ovary white-pubescent, ellipsoid. Fruit oblong to globose, green when mature with a sturdy pericarp, mesocarp whitish grey.

Distribution:— Passiflora macrophylla is restricted to the seasonally dry forests of coastal Ecuador and Colombia, where it is found at low elevations between sea level up to 650 m above sea level. Despite it being restricted to dry forests, the species occurs always within the moister understory of the dry forests where it grows in moist to wet forested and shady microhabitats such as ravines, near local stagnant water basins or swamps and river valleys within dry forest life zones. The authorial team also observed P. macrophylla having a deciduous habit, loosing its large leaves to preserve moisture during the extended dry season. Notable populations observed by the authors include Cerro Blanco, Reserva Ecológica Manglares Churute, Machalilla National Park, and the Mache-Chindul Reserve.

Notes:— Passiflora macrophylla is a common lowland species found across the coastal regions of Ecuador and Colombia. It generally consists of a small, poorly wooded and short-lived arched treelet producing few enormous leaves and extensive inflorescences. The species is slow growing and present a somewhat monocarpic habit, often dying completely after producing its inflorescence refraining plants from becoming large.

Upon researching the type designations for Passiflora macrophylla and P. gigantifolia Harms (1894: 46) (next entry), it became increasingly clear that there was much inconsistency in the respective allocated types. Both species were described using a set of distinct, taxonomically separable traits that were consistent with their accessions (e.g. length of the hypanthium, number of corona series, flower size), yet both species had ambiguous type specimens mentioned that were mixed with one another. In the original 1883 manuscript for P. macrophylla , two syntypes were assigned of which one was from a highland location (Spruce 6203) consistent with long-hypanthial forms (used to identify P. gigantifolia ), whereas the other (André 4227) was collected in the coastal lowlands consistent with shorthypanthial forms (used to identify P. macrophylla ). The former was later assigned incorrectly as lectotype by Holm-Nielsen (1988).

However, the characteristics described by Masters (1883) to identify Passiflora macrophylla did not correspond with this lectotype, nor plants seen by the authorial team from the type habitat (pre-montane wet cloud forest) coherent with Spruce 6203. Rather, it suggests the location for P. gigantifolia which was described, and seen by the authorial team, in exactly similar habitats (albeit slightly further south). To complicate matters even further, the original species description (which transcends into its present-day usage), corresponds exactly to the dimensions and habitat as shown for the André 4227 syntype (that being coastal low, seasonal dry forest). This suggests that the original description upon which P. macrophylla was based is André 4227, and therefore should have been assigned the lectotype over Spruce 6203. To correct this mistake and avoid having to illegitimize the taxon “ P. macrophylla ”, the corresponding specimen is here designated as the new lectotype for P. macrophylla .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Direct comparison between Passiflora macrophylla (A,C,D) and the newly restored P. gigantifolia (B,D,F). Detailing the upright vs. pendent inflorescence (A,B); the longitudinal with the difference in hypanthium (C,D); and the flower structure (E,F). All photos taken by J.R. Kuethe.