A new species of passion fruit

Student Porfirio Kapa became the College's latest graduate yesterday, with a research project about starting two species of passion fruit from cuttings. (Passion fruit is named for the Passion of Christ: The vine resembles the whip used to flagellate Christ, the corona threads resemble a crown of thorns, the three stamens represent the three nails used to nail Christ to the cross, and the five anthers are the five wounds on Christ's body.)


Photo: Porfirio poses in front of his passion fruit nursery.

Both species grew from cuttings from the stem, with over 90% success with the known species, and around 60% for the unnamed species.


Photo: The unnamed species of passion fruit. Porfirio says that the only people who eat this fruit now are kids and monkeys!

Congratulations to Porfirio. We expect his wife Maribel Villca to graduate with in the next few months, as our family of graduates grows.