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What is this vine? It's located in Atlanta, GA. It has been flowering for the past several months. The photos were taken in late August, 2020. The flowers on this vine seem to be particularly attractive to bumble bees as there are always about a dozen of them on this vine's flowers whenever I visit it.

One feature of this vine's flowers that I find particularly interesting are the pieces that come up from the middle, go outwards, and then appear to end in wide brushes that are positioned at the same height as a bumble bee's back when they're visiting the flower. I assume these brushes are used to apply pollen to the bumble bee's back. Is that correct?

These flowers also have three purple/green segments at the top of the flower that go out from the center. What are those, and what are they used for?

Flowering vine with two bumble bees

Flowering vine's buds

Flowering vine's leaves

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  • Good question and good illustrations; if could include an overall illustration, overall height, diameter of flowers, and size of leaves, could also be helpful. We encourage you to take the Tour, and browse through the Help center, to learn more about how the site works! Thank you! Welcome to the site!
    – M H
    Aug 28, 2020 at 13:59

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It is a passion flower, but it's not Passiflora incarnata; your photo shows Passiflora caerulea. The rays on the first variety are wavy or crimped, whereas the second has generally straight but slightly curved rays, like those in your photo. P. caerulea is not quite so hardy as P. incarnata and may be killed back to the ground in a hard winter (temps below -10 degC for extended periods) but usually puts out new shoots from the ground the following spring.

The structure of the flowers is quite unusual and a complete botanical explanation for its appearance is not entirely known, but the brownish looking parts at the top are the stigma; below that is the ovary and anthers. This arrangement is thought to be a way to avoid self pollination, since the pollen bearing anthers are below the stigma. The varying colours on the rays are thought to be a sort of guidance system for pollinating insects; more detailed image of a P. caerulea flower and explanation here https://www.gardendesign.com/flowers/passion.html

This plant often produces fruits - they are somewhat bland but not unpleasant to taste, and should only be consumed when fully ripe, when they will look orange and feel just slightly soft.

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  • +1 for correct identification!
    – renesis
    Aug 28, 2020 at 17:29
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It is Passion Flower, Passiflora incarnata.

It is native to the southern United states and produces edible fruit. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passiflora_incarnata

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