Blue Passionflower (Passiflora caerulea)

Image: © Jonathan Kington Taken: 13 Oct 2011

Seen hanging over a wall on Image is this lovely Blue Passionflower. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish Christian missionaries used the unique physical structures of the Passionflower plant, and in particular the numbers of its various flower parts, as symbols of the Passion or the last days of Jesus and, in particular, his Crucifixion: The pointed tips of the leaves were said to represent the Holy Lance. The tendrils represented the whips used in the flagellation of Christ. The ten petals and sepals represented the ten faithful apostles (leaving out St. Peter the denier and Judas Iscariot the betrayer). The flower's radial filaments, of which there are usually more than a hundred and vary from flower to flower, represented the crown of thorns. The chalice-shaped ovary with its receptacle represented the Holy Grail The 3 stigmas represented the 3 nails and the 5 anthers below them the 5 wounds (four by the nails and one by the lance). And The blue and white colours of many species' flowers represented Heaven and Purity.

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