Passion Flower | Passiflora incarnata | Cut & Sifted | Powder

Passion Flower | Passiflora incarnata | Cut & Sifted | Powder

The dried flowers, leaves, and stems of passion flower are used to promote well-being, calm, and relaxation. The plant is traditionally used to fight anxiety and insomnia. When smoked, passion flower immediately causes feelings of sleepiness and is frequently used in herbal blends to cure insomnia.

Commonly mixed with: damiana, skullcap, & blue lotus. 
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Active Compounds:
Passion flower contains a variety of flavonoid compounds and cyanogenic glycosides. P. incarnata is one of the species in this family of plants that contains harmala alkaloids.

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Overview

The passion flower is not only admired for its beauty and religious significance, but for its powerful sedative qualities.

Passiflora incarnata, also known as maypop, purple passion flower, true passion flower, wild apricot, and wild passion vine, belongs to the Passifloraceae genus and is native to southern parts of America. It produces brilliant, showy flowers with a distinctive corona. 

Traditionally used as a remedy for promoting calm and treating seizures, hysteria, and anxiety, passion flower is still renowned as a relaxant and sedative. It is used as a tea, supplement, and smokeable herb.  

History

Passion flower was first used by the Aztecs of Mexico as a folk remedy for anxiety and insomnia. The Algonkian Indians in Virginia and Creek people in Florida were said to have eaten the fruits of the plant, as did the European settlers later on.

The flower was named when  Hernando Cortez conquered Mexico in the 16th century and the priests and soldiers who accompanied him thought that the whitish-purple flowers of the vine symbolized the Passion of Christ. They believed the corona in the center of the flower was Christ’s crown of thorns, and the five stamens represented the number of Christ’s wounds. The flower’s tendrils were the whips used to beat him, and the five petals represent 10 of the apostles.¹ The Spanish explorers believed that the passion flower was a symbol of Christ’s passion and therefore an indication of his ‘approval’ for their expedition.

The use of Passiflora as a medicine was first noted by a Spanish researcher Monardus in Peru in 1569. As well as a sedative, Native Americans used passionflower to treat boils, wounds, earaches, and liver problems.²

Later in America, passion flower became approved as a sedative and was sold over the counter as a sleep aid. However, science failed to prove its effectiveness and safety, and it was taken off the market in 1978. 



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