The species Passiflora foetida L. é an exotic vine, which leaves and fruit have medicinal properties. In Brazil, the herbis used in the form of extracts or poultices for erysipelas and skin diseases with inflammation. The aim of this study was to characterize five Passiflora foetida L. accessions based on 17 morphological descriptors The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse in a completely randomized design with 15 replicates per genotype. The variables were the fruit skin color, fruit shape, fruit length, fruit diameter, fresh fruit, length of pedicel, flesh color of the fruit, skin thickness, acidity, soluble solids, hydrogen potential ratio soluble solids / acidity, seed length, seed diameter, thickness of seed, fresh seed and seed number per fruit. The data were submitted to analysis of variance and the means were compared by Tukey test at 5% of probability. There was a significant difference by F test at 5%,of probability among the genotypes for nearly all traits, except the thickness of the shell, fresh fruit mass, seed length and fresh weight of seed. The variable that most variation was the soluble solids. The genotype 5 had the highest means by Tukey test at 5% of probability on all characteristics that can be used in breeding programs of the species.
Fruit; medicinal plants; Germplasm bank
