Apricot Vine

• Botanical Name(s): Passiflora Incarnata

• Popular Name(s): Maypops, Wild Passionflower and Apricot Vine

• Parts Used: Leaves and whole plant

• Habitat: The plant is native to North, Central, and [[South America]].

• Description: Passionflower is a perennial climber with deeply lobed, finely toothed leaves, with fragrant lavender to white flowers appearing in summer. Edible fruits follow the flowers of passionflower.

Uses: Passionflower is used internally to treat nervous restlessness, sleep disorders, anxiety, neuralgia, irritability and overcoming the difficulty in falling asleep. The ripe passion fruits are eaten raw and can be made into jellies, jams, wines and fruit based drinks, while the flowers are made into syrup. Its narcotic properties cause it to be used in diarrhea and dysentery, neuralgia, sleeplessness and dysmenorrhea.

As mentioned earlier, the passion flower has a wonderfully calming and sedative action, and it also acts as a muscle relaxant. When one uses passion flower extract before going to sleep, one can wake up feeling completely refreshed and alert as never before. This is because passion flower has a sedative and antispasmodic action, and this relaxes spasms and tension if any in one’s muscles. This in turn calms the nerves and lessens pain, and also lessens anxiety, tensions, and any other type of physical pain that is closely associated with stress, such as colic and asthma, and high blood pressure. Passion flower can also be used in the treatment of neuralgia, sciatica, shingles, muscle pain, Parkinson's disease, and muscle twitching. The extract has also been proved to be useful in various disorders related to tension, anxiety and stress, and can be added to the regular drug prescription, like for example, for treating hot flashes, headaches, migraine, abdominal pain, at times for convulsions, and for a persistent and tickly cough.

The magic of the passion flower can be observed in how it works. Passion flower works on the nerves by toning the sympathetic nerve, and also by improving the blood circulation and the nutrition that the nerves receive. The flower works gently, and sedates a person smoothly, and reduced the symptoms of over-activity and panic in a person, thereby making it a mild, non-addictive herbal tranquilizer. Perhaps this is why the flower is often compared to the valerian (Valeriana officinalis). The painkilling properties of the passion flower are utilized when it is prescribed for relief from headaches, period pains, toothaches. Conditions that are caused or offset by nervous anxiety, like asthma, heart palpitations, muscle cramps, and high blood pressure are relieved by the passion flower. Its anti-spasmodic effect and its tranquilizing properties make the passion flower extremely useful to a person, especially when he is anxious and over-active.