Varieties

Passiflora edulis

The most popular style of passionfruit currently grown in Australia

They are a deep purple colour, medium size fruit with rich orange-yellow pulp and black seeds

Individual varieties include ‘Misty Gem’, ‘Sweetheart’ and newcomers ‘Tango’ and ‘Flamenco’

Passiflora flavicarpa

Large, juicy fruit with skin colour ranging from light yellow to a rich red

Zingy flesh with a sweet flavour and lots of juice

Commonly known as Panama style passionfruit

Individual varieties include ‘Pandora’ and ‘McGuffies Red’

New varietal development

Passionfruit have been cultivated and sold commercially in Australia for many years.  Breeding programs have produced new varieties from selective crossing to achieve viable plants which deliver yield, disease resistance and eating quality.

There is currently a new breeding project underway – PF22000 National Passionfruit Breeding Program – funded by Hort Innovation, using the passionfruit research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.

The primary objectives of this new project are to:

  • Generate new progenies for the development of new passionfruit selections with improved agronomic performance, product quality, and consumer appeal
  • Develop hybrid varieties for industry adoption
  • Develop and apply new technologies and methods to enable rapid breeding
  • Generate comparative performance data for progenies
  • Communicate performance of new selections and varieties to the Australian passionfruit industry

If you’re interested in how the National Passionfruit Breeding Program is progressing, check out the latest update from The University of Queensland.

LATEST UPDATE