Passiflora nitida
| Bell apple, Maracujá de monte | |
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| File:Passiflora laurifolia Blanco.2.196.jpg | |
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| Species: | P.nitida
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The Bell apple, P.nitida is a tasty, but relatively unknown Passion fruit, the Bell apple has similarities to P.laurifolia, with orange-yellow fruits that have a sweet, succulent pulp. Bell apple is a tropical Passion flower, fast growing and vining. Flowers are blue and red, a bit like P.laurifolia and P.quadrangularis. The fruits grow up to 4cm. The exact hardiness in unknown, but it is tropical and should be protected from proloned temperatures below 50-55F. Not frost hardy. P.nitida is the cousin of almost all the Passiflora species like P.actinia,P.flavicarpa, P.loefgrenii and so on. Not much information of P.nitida is avalible, but it would seem to enjoy humid, tropical climates with regular water and well-drained soil. It's propagayion is by seeds. The fruits are eaten fresh and repotedly quite good in flavor. The Bell apple is a native to the Amazon jungle region.