Passiflora Unfurled

Passiflora

A Passiflora as charted by the Swiss botanist Arnold Dodel-Port and archived for The Memory of the Netherlands Project. Much thanks to Peacay of BibliOdyssey for reminding me of it again.

Meanwhile, here's an interesting botanical history: “The 'Passion flower' acquired its name from descriptions of its flower parts supplied by priests in South America known at that time as the 'New Spain'. The parts were interpreted by Giacomo Bosio, a churchman and historian, in Rome (1609), as representing various elements of the Crucifixion. The five petals and five sepals are the ten disciples less Judas & Peter. The corona filaments are the crown of thorns. The five stamen with anthers match the five sacred wounds & the three stigma the nails. This symbolism is not universal however, in Japan it is sometimes known as 'The Clock Plant'.”

And from the same website, there's a movie of a Passiflora edulis blooming: an exhilarating 20-second Passion Play as directed by Richard Dawkins.