Well, THIS is unexpected!

19 years ago

Look what popped out on my incarnata the other day:

A white "Alba" sport. Shocked the heck out of me, I can tell you. The flower was looking a little ragged, so I suspect that it actually bloomed the day before, but had stayed open a second day as well. The ovary was very under developed and the stigmas hadn't reflexed, so the flower was sterile. The flower itself was 2.5" in diameter. For comparison, here's a pic of what a "normal" flower on this vine looks like:

These things measure up to 4" across, so the white sport differs significantly. Neither the flowers that bloomed on that particular vine ahead of the white sport, nor the ones that have bloomed after it show any hints of white. This one, apparently, was a one-off.

And just for funsies, here's a pic of some of the fruit I have maturing on the plant right now.

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Comments (5)

ninecrow
19 years ago
Is it the only one one that stem? Just thinking that if you took cuttings from it, would it come true?

LOVE the Last Photo.... All That YUMMY Fruit
chena
19 years ago
WOW!! How cool is that!!! That stray is a beauty..LOL The last pic is Yummy!! maybe a little vodka~passion fruit puree' HMMM... :)
Chena
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jblaschke
Original Author
19 years ago
Ninecrow, nope, that was the only white on that stem. All the others (and two more have opened since) have been "normal."

Chena, I plan on taking a bunch of the fruit this season and using it to make a passion fruit mead. I've had some success with a raspberry mead and a spiced mead in the past, and currently have a batch of prickly pear fruit mead aging. But passion fruit has been a longstanding goal of mine. :-)
karyn1
19 years ago
Your fruit looks great. Odd looking white bloom. What in the world is a fruit mead?
Karyn
jblaschke
Original Author
19 years ago
Karyn, technically, a fruit mead is called "melomel." It's a honey-based wine with fruit added during the fermentation process. And certain fruits have their own particular name. Pear mead is called "Perry," apple mead is "Cyser" and so on. Mead with herbs and spices is called "Metheglin," a grape-honey mix is called "Pyment." There's a tremendous number of variations possible, only a few of which I've attempted thus far (with mixed results).