Passiflora sublanceolata

In 1936 when Ellsworth Paine Killip first described Passiflora sublanceolata as Passiflora palmeri var. sublanceolata, it made sense because the supposed variety was very similar to the Passiflora sublanceolata. However, in 1991, John M. MacDougal determined that P. palmeri occurred in the desert of Baja California in northwestern Mexico, while his new P. sublanceolata inhabited the wetter though seasonally dry Yucatan Peninsula and Belize.^[4]

Historically, Passiflora species have been assigned to several subgenera.^[8] In 2021, phylogenetic analysis found that taxa in the traditional Passiflora section Decaloba, to which our species presumably belongs, can be recognized as belonging to the "Central American clade." However, with many of the approximately 600 Passiflora species still to be analyzed, many features of relationships of taxa at the subgenus level remain unclear.^[9]

In the genus name Passiflora, the -Passi derives from the New Latin passio, meaning "passion or suffering". This alludes to the floral morphology – the pistil's three styles representing nails, the corona representing the crown of thorns, and red coloration (if present) representing the blood of Christ – symbolizing Christ's crucifixion. The flora comes from the Latin flos, meaning "flower".^[10]

In the species name sublanceolata, the Sub- originally is from the ancient Greek sub, meaning "below or lower", and the -lanceolata is lanceolatus, which is Latin for a small lance; therefore, with this species, sublanceolata must refer to the leaf shape, which in technical botany is referred to as "sublanceolate".^[11]

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  Passiflora sublanceolata, flower from above
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  Passiflora sublanceolata, 5 stamens, 3 styles and a very hairy ovary atop the androgynophore
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  Passiflora sublanceolata, sublanceolate leaves and tendrils
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  Passiflora sublanceolata, hairy, sticky-glandular leaf undersurface