I found this delicate little passion flower out on my morning walk yesterday. The vine was creeping over the garden wall of an abandoned property and I brought home a long stem to take a closer look. This is Passiflora foetida, also known as Stinking Passionflower, Love-in-a-mist (due to its resemblance to Nigella damascena a flower also surrounded by numerous threadlike bracts), Running Pop and Wild Waterlemon. The latin foetida refers to the apparently unpleasant smell emitted by damaged leaves, though I haven't noticed this! The bloom, which is quite small at just over 3 cms in diameter, appears to last only a few hours, opening at dawn and closing by midday. Well worth clicking on the photos to enlarge.
