Passionflower

Passiflora incarnata

Also: Maypop, Purple passionflower, Apricot vine

CoolingDryingRelaxing

Quiets the thoughts that keep circling at bedtime.

A climbing vine with three-lobed leaves and extraordinary lavender flowers ringed with a fringe of wavy filaments, followed by egg-shaped fruit. Passionflower stills a mind stuck on the same worries and relaxes the body that tenses along with it, which makes it a herb for the busy mind at bedtime.

Energetics: Cooling, drying, relaxing
Taste: Sour, sweet, mildly acrid
Family: Passifloraceae (passionflower family)
Parts used: Leaves, vines, and flowers

Medicinal uses 4

The tags sort the evidence behind each use by kind. Members are able to tap a condition to compare every herb for it.

Traditional useLab and mechanism studiesClinical studies

Trouble sleepingTLC
For the mind that won't stop at night; tea drinkers in a small trial reported better sleep quality.
Anxiety & stressTLC
Calms anxious, looping thoughts; clinical trials found it comparable to some anti-anxiety medicines for generalized anxiety.
Muscle tension & spasmTLC
Loosens the tight shoulders and clenched jaw that come with a stressed mind.
Aches & painTLC
Taken in a bigger dose, it dulls back pain and other aches that tighten with spasm.

Preparations

Evening tea, tincture spaced through the hour before bed, and sleep blends with skullcap.

Members are able to see the amounts, ratios, and methods for each preparation, search by condition, and match herbs to your constitution.

Become a member · $39 a year Log in

Cautions

Can deepen the effect of sedatives, sleep medicines, and alcohol.
Leave it out if you take beta blockers.
Young children do better with catnip or chamomile.

Medication interactions

Practitioner Practitioners are able to see the 3 types of medicine flagged for passionflower, each with the mechanism and what to do. The plain-language cautions above stay open to everyone.

Practitioner membership · $150 a year Log in

Pregnancy & breastfeeding

PregnancyAvoid

Its harmala alkaloids stimulated the uterus in animal studies, it has a history of use for bringing on periods, and safety research in pregnancy is thin. Linden and lemon balm suit pregnant sleepers better.

BreastfeedingAvoid

Its sedative action could reach a nursing baby. Choose a gentler nervine while breastfeeding.

Practitioner Practitioners are able to see the full entry from the Moss Herbalism Pregnancy Safety Database: trimester ratings, uterine and placental action, breastfeeding and nursing-baby effects, chemistry, traditional use, studies, and sources.

Practitioner membership · $150 a year Log in

Folklore

Spanish missionaries in sixteenth-century South America read the Passion of Christ in the flower: the fringed corona as the crown of thorns, the five anthers as the wounds, the three styles as the nails, and the ten petals and sepals as the apostles who stayed faithful. In the American South the hollow fruits pop underfoot, which gave the vine its name maypop, and the Cherokee and other nations of the Southeast ate the fruit. Tennessee named it the state wildflower in 1973.

How to grow

A perennial vine hardy to about zone 6 with a thick mulch. It dies back in winter and comes up late in spring, so mark its place. Give it full sun and a fence or trellis; it spreads by roots. Cut leafy vines and flowers in summer.

In the wild

Thickets, roadsides, fence rows, and old fields across the southeastern United States, from eastern Texas to the Atlantic and north into the Ohio Valley.

Every herb here fits some people better than others. Find out which ones fit you.

Match by condition Book a consult