Passionflower: Nature's Passionate Stress Solution

Passionflower (Passiflora incarnat) also goes by the name passion vine, apricot vine, or Corona de Cristo. It's a hardy, climbing vine that is noted for its beautiful flowers and tasty fruit. This perennial creeper is native to Central and South America, the West Indies, and the southeast region of the United States. The climbing tendrils can be trained so that the vine can easily grow on a trellis. The aerial parts are normally collected during the flowering and fruiting period and used either fresh or dried. The leaves and stems of the plant provide the mild sedative activity.

Passionflower was cultivated by Native Americans, both for its edible fruits and for its medicinal value. In the nineteenth century, it was a popular treatment for insomnia. Europeans learned about passionflower from the Aztecs of Mexico, who used it as a sedative to treat insomnia and nervousness. The plant was taken to Europe, where it is now widely cultivated and used in herbal medicine (as a tea or as capsules) in combination with valerian and lemon balm. There appears to be a synergism between the components in this mixture. This herbal preparation is a useful treatment for tenseness, restlessness, and irritability, and provides mild sedation without any addictive properties.


Today passionflower is recognized as an effective agent for the management and treatment of generalized anxiety disorders such as nervous restlessness, stress nervous tension, irritability, and anxiety in addition to mild insomnia, and gastrointestinal disorders of nervous origin. Passionflower appears in sleep aid formulations and is reported to generate a degree of antispasmodic activity. Its active components appear to attenuate the chemical dependence produced by addiction-prone substances such as nicotine, alcohol, and cannabis.

No side effects that are typically observed with conventional tranquilizers, such as an impairment of memory or motor skills, are seen with the use of passionflower. In addition, there are no contraindications for its use. The typical dose is about 1 to 2 grams of finely chopped herb. Steeping a teaspoon of dried herbs in half a cup of boiling water for 15 minutes makes tea. Two or three cups of such tea may be drunk throughout the day.