High Potency Passion Flower

The passion flower was named by Spanish explorers not for its alleged aphrodisiac properties but because of its close resemblance to Christ's crown of thorns, according to the Herbs 2000 website. Native to the American Midwest and Southeast, the passion flower has been used as a folk remedy for insomnia and anxiety since the mid-1800s. Recently, a high-potency passion flower extract has come on the market that is 10 times as potent as the regular flower. Passion flower extract is available in capsule, tincture and dried herb form.

Features

• Also known as maypop and apricot vine, the passion flower comes in various shades of purple. Its distinguishing feature is a circle of horizontal petals extending out from beneath a smaller circular fringe of needle-like pedals. According to Dr. Ray Sahelian, the active ingredients in the aerial (above ground) parts of the plant are "flavonoids, sterols, cholorogenic acid, volatile oil and traces of alkaloids (including harmine, harman)."

Relaxant

• Passion flower extract was first recognized for its calming and sedative properties by Dr. L. Phares of Mississippi in the 1840s, per Herbs 2000. Today, companies that sell herbal supplements tout its anti-anxiety effects, saying it encourages relaxation during stress, promotes restful sleep and relaxes tense muscles. Dr. Sahelian contends that methanol extracts from the leaves, stems and flowers produce anti-anxiety effects. In 1997, researchers from the Paul Verlaine University in Metz, France successfully demonstrated the sedative effects on mice of the alkaloids and flavonoids in the passion flower.

Aphrodisiac

• Passion flower

  Excessive and continued alcohol and nicotine consumption has been shown to be seriously detrimental to libido, fertility and sperm count. In a study by Indian researchers in 2002, passion flower extract was shown to have restorative effects on libido, fertility and sperm count in male rats. The researchers were able to demonstrate that benxoflavone moiety (BZF) taken from the plant's methanol extract revitalized the sexual function of the rats after the administration of nicotine and alcohol, per Zhion.com.

Treating Addiction

• In 2002 and 2003, researchers from Panjab University in India suggested that BZF extracted from the passion flower may be effective in counteracting addiction to substances such as morphine, nicotine and ethyl alcohol. Mice that were treated with high doses of BZF, in combination with nicotine, exhibited fewer jumps from nicotine withdrawal.

Contraindications

• Consult with your doctor before taking passion flower extract, especially if you are already taking sedatives, blood thinners, anti-depressants, hypnotics or any other prescription medication. Although there are no known side effects from the use of passion flower extract, pregnant and nursing women should not use this herbal supplement owing to a lack of clinical evidence. The Food and Drug Administration does not recognize the alleged sedative or other properties of the passion flower.