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Summer is a time for lemonade , watering throne , and marvel at a beautiful peculiarity that creeps up our gates and fence — the passion blossom . A genus of about 500 species of vine ( and the casual shrub),Passifloraflowers are distinguished by a characteristic figure of radiating filaments and multi - leveled structures . While pollinator ( thankfully ) interpret the beguiling bloom , they often seem other - worldly to the sleep of us . Passiflorahave retentive hypnotised botanists , gardener , and even theologist . latterly , I ’ve received passion peak picture from a couple Friend who go for to know what ’s going on with the strange flower . In event they ’re not the only ones , we ’ve designed a abbreviated undercoat on the passion flush — the peak ’s syllable structure and common features , and how those structures add up to stand for something other than " pollinate " and " fruit , " thereby give the industrial plant its name .
Passiflora caerulea . Photo by : frted / Flickr .
geomorphology : A Beguiling social organisation
The typical passion efflorescence has fivepetalsand five alternatingsepals . While both are standardized in size of it and color , the sepal are recognize by a immature hook , orawn , at the steer .
Thecoronais composed of thin , coloredfilamentsthat radiate around the central husk . There are two layer , squall the radius and the pali . The corona ’s concentrical rings of varying hue are thought to manoeuver pollinators ( insect and hummingbirds ) to the honey gland at the gist of the flower .
Blue Passion Flower ( Passiflora caerulea ) , one of the most common species . Photo by : Ian Foss / Flickr .
Threestigmas(female variety meat that receive pollen and direct it towards the ovary ) extend above theovary , where the yield will be bring out . Beneath the stigmas are fiveanthers(male organs that produce pollen ) . This organization , in which the stigma are above the anthers , is a mechanism to quash self - fertilization — there is less chance that the pollen will move around upward to the stigma , than that it would float downwards and thus ego - pollinate ( most Passiflora hybridisation - pollinate , though some ego - pollinate ) . When the flower first opens , all anther are ab initio facing upward . Within an hour , the five anthers circumvolve downwards to confront the flower ’s operculum and Saint Elmo’s fire — and thus the pollinators , who will be below , mine the nectar .
For bees to reach the nectar , they have to get through theoperculum , a ring of dark fibers at the home of the central column . coiffure directly over thenectaries , the operculum filum are a mechanism to warn nectar robbers . The pollinator must penetrate the operculum barrier to get to the ambrosia , and thus brushing against the pollen - laden anthers . In the bee - pollinatedP. caerulea , the operculum may help to diffuse a fragrance emitted by the electric glow .
yield explicate in theovary . Most mintage grow stretch seedcase that are two to eight in in lenght , and an in or two in diameters . Not all are edible , and some are more pop than others . P. edulis(Purple Passion Flower ) is arguably the most notable species . It produces the purple — or yellow — fruits that we commonly call " passionfruit . " It is cultivated in lovesome , hoar - free climate throughout the worldly concern .
Etymology : From Whence the warmth
I always attributedPassiflora’sname to its oft - enchanting aromas and mesmerizing sound structure , raise the passion of an unbridled summer dalliance . Not to dissuade those with likewise wild-eyed association , the truth is that the flower was named for something with a bit more lordliness — the Passion of Christ . In the early 1600s , Spanish Christian missionary adopted the plant life as a teaching tool , construe aPassifloraflower as a metaphor for Christ ’s death . In this adapted theological model , the various bloom division each correspond with a symbolisation of the crucifixion .
Madonna & Child by Joos van Cleve , c. 1530 - 1535 . A passion efflorescence with a crown of thorns flush from a gillyflower ( detail ) . Art historians believe the heat flower was added years afterwards , as the works was not introduced to Europe until after the creative person ’s death . Why , and by whom , remain a mystery . Photo by : Cincinnati Art Museum .
The palmate leaves symbolize the hands of Christ ’s tormentor ; the tendril were the whip used in the flagellation ; the five sepals and five petal represented the ten faithful apostle ( excluding St. Peter the denier , and Judas the betrayer ) ; the five anthers signify the five wounds ; three stain were the nails used to attach Christ to the cross ; the layered radial filaments of the corona symbolized a summit of thorns . Linneaus would later name the efflorescence for its theological translation .
An instance of " Fleur de la Passion " include a crown of thorns around the stigma . From Jardin d’hiver ou Cabinet Drug Enforcement Agency fleurs , by Jean Franeau , 1616 .
The Many colour of Passiflora : Passifloracultivars & species ( clockwise from top left):P. alata , Photo by : Beatrice Murch Flaigg;P. incarnata , Photo by : Norman G ( via passionflow.co.uk);P.xdecaisneana , Photo by : R.H.S. Wisley;P.‘Constance Eliott ' , Photo by : Les King .
