the.com/passionflower
a flower so geometrically deranged it looks like an alien spacecraft parked in your hedge.
means A climbing tropical vine bearing flamboyant, intricately layered flowers — and, in some species, an edible fruit (passion fruit).
from The name is religious, not romantic. When 16th-century Spanish missionaries in South America saw the flower's elaborate parts, they read it as a diagram of the Passion of Christ — the crucifixion. The ring of fine filaments became the crown of thorns, the five stamens the five wounds, the three styles the three nails. They called it 'flor de la pasión,' and the Latinized 'Passiflora' carried that vision into botany. So the 'passion' here means suffering, not desire — though English speakers have happily misread it ever since.
- holy name
- named by missionaries who saw Christ's crucifixion in its parts
- counting petals
- the ten petals supposedly symbolize ten faithful apostles
- sleep aid
- its leaves are brewed into mild calming sedative tea
- butterfly host
- feeds caterpillars by lacing leaves with cyanide compounds
- passion fruit
- some species produce the edible tropical fruit you love
passiflora edulis — brazilian purple passionflower, commercially grown for juice in south america since the 1970s
passiflora incarnata — native to southeastern united states, used in traditional herbal medicine for anxiety and insomnia
passiflora mollissima — banana passionflower of ecuador and colombia, produces edible elongated fruits called curuba