Revision of Passiflora Subgenus Decaloba ... - Passion Flowers

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published. It is interesting that the specific epithet “marmorea” means marbled,
as the leaves of this species are often variegated. Holm-Nielson et al. (1988), in
the synonomy of P. coriacea, stated that P. sexocellata is an illegitimate name
that was based upon material of P. coriacea Juss. and P. difformis Kunth.
However, I do not see any reason why Schlechtendal's species has to be
considered illegitimate. He carefully describes the plant from cultivated material
that he had at hand in the Botanical Gardens in Halle, Germany and spends a
paragraph differentiating his species from both P. coriacea and P. difformis. I
was unable to locate the type of P. sexocellata, and U. Braun (curator of the
herbarium at the Herbarium at the Institut fur Geobotanik und Botanischer
Garten, Halle) was unable to find any material under the name P. sexocellata.
Braun was also unable to locate appropriate material under P. coriacea or P.
difformis. Other species of Passiflora from México and Central America were in
cultivation in Europe by 1830 (Loudon, 1830), and it is plausible that
Schlechtendal had such material at hand when he described P. sexocellata.
Schlechtendal's P. sexocellata seems to fit the description of the Mesoamerican
entity that I am recognizing as a species distinct from P. coriacea and other
similar taxa from supersection Cieca. However, some of the vegetative
characters that he uses to distinguish P. sexocellata are actually quite variable,
but he only had one live specimen available to him when he described the
species. He describes the flower as having five green sepals, outer coronal
filaments that are "lilac" at the base but "yellowish green" otherwise, inner
coronal filaments that are dilated at the apex and "lilac" in color at the tips and