Passiflora alata Curtis was originally described by Curtis (1788) from a living plant, cultivated in several gardens (J. Vere, the Chelsea Physic Garden, and by Mr Malcom at Kennington). Curtis (1788) states that the nurserymen believed that the seeds were originaly from the West Indies, while Killip (1938) attributed the origin of the material to Brazil. Cervi (1997) cites a specimen preserved at K as type, but it was preserved in 1816, 28 years after the date of publication of the name, and it cannot be considered the type of P alata [Greuter et al. (2000), Art. 9.9]. There is no material contemporary with the description preserved either at K, BM or CHEL. Therefore we designate the illustration in the Botanical Magazine as the lectotype for the name Passiflora alata Curtis. Some confusion with the authority of this species originated from Killip (1938), who assumed it had been first described by Dryander (1789) in Aiton's Hortus Kewensis. Several authors, amongst them MacDougal (1989), Snow & MacDougal (1993), Feuillet & MacDougal (1996) and Bernacci & Vitta (1999), however, pointed out that the original publication had been made one year before, by Curtis (1788).