Vine · Passifloraceae
Yellow passionflower
Passiflora lutea
Yellow passionflower is recorded as native to 22 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 719 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Yellow passionflower at a glance
- Native in
- 719 counties, across 22 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a PLANTS minimum temperature −23°F
- Mature height
- 16 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 5a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −23°F; zone 5a winters bottom out at −20°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Yellow passionflower is recorded as native to 22 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 719 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 719 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 8 counties
- Arkansas 54 counties
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 20 counties
- Georgia 20 counties
- Illinois 42 counties
- Indiana 31 counties
- Kansas 4 counties
- Kentucky 62 counties
- Louisiana 59 counties
- Mississippi 46 counties
- Missouri 66 counties
- North Carolina 49 counties
- Ohio 29 counties
- Oklahoma 19 counties
- Pennsylvania 6 counties
- South Carolina 23 counties
- Tennessee 50 counties
- Texas 31 counties
- Virginia 72 counties
- West Virginia 25 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb, Vine
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 16 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Climbing
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 38 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.5 to 8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −23°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 160
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Passifloraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- PALU2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Passiflora lutea (PLANTS symbol PALU2).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources