Tenuiloba!

Occasionally I obsess a bit here about passion flowers. I've got some big, flashy ones growing, and am always ready to show them off. I've also developed an obsession for odd, rare or obscure passis from the decaloba subtype. These generally have interesting leaves, small flowers and are smaller plants in general. P. tenuiloba is a Texas native, growing in dry areas of the Hill Country and South Texas. It doesn't have impressive flowers, isn't cultivated and isn't all that common even in the wild. The one thing they're known for is their elongated leaves, which gives them the common names of "bird-wing passion flower" and "slender-lobe passion flower." Naturally, I had to add it to my collection. Which isn't easy when nobody else grows this thing, believe me. But I've gotten some over the years. Sadly, I've killed almost as many while trying to figure out how they like to be treated. So imagine my delight when I looked in on the one growing in my office and discovered this:



I had no idea they produced flowers in pairs. But then again, things I have no idea about could fill volumes. Still, twinned flowers is not a common trait among passis. Will post pics of the modest flowers once the buds open. But yeah, I'm excited.

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