Mystery Berry, Solved!

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Most of us here in Hawaii know that Bishop Museum is cool, but now there's another reason to love them, Ask a Bishop Museum Scientist. When shown images of a mysterious berry growing along Kapahulu Ave, one of their botanists was quick to help identify it.

Does this plant have hairs on the leaves that when touched give it a foetid (nasty) odor? This give you a hint as to the name of this species! It's scientific name is Passiflora foetida. It has the common name "love-in-a-mist". This species can be recognized by the finely divided bracts and stipules [ed. see markup on the photo]. The flowers are characteristic of Passiflora and the family Passifloraceae - passion flowers. This species is highly variable, and is native to the American tropics and subtropics. This species is a common weed in Hawaii...


...It is related to liliko'i, and the seeds are surrounded by a succulent, edible aril (fleshy thickening of the seed coat). &emdash;Shelley James, Botany, Bishop Museum

Mystery solved, it's the Stinkin' Passion Flower.

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1 Comments

Kat said:

whoo, now we can all sleep ;) thanks alan!

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This page contains a single entry by alan published on January 31, 2008 12:08 PM.

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