NAT. ORDER. — PASSIFLORE.E. 137 



and their iJcas of its affinities are consequent!}' much at variance. 

 According to Jussieu, the "parts talvcn for petals are notliing hut 

 inner divisions of the calyx, usually in a colored state, and wanting 

 in several species ;" and therefore, in the judgment of this venerable 

 botanist, the order is apctalous or monochlamydeous. De CandoIIe 

 adopts the same view of the nature of the floral envelopes as Jussieu ; 

 but he nevertheless considers, we think with propriety, the order 

 polypetalous. Other botanists consider the outer series of the floral 

 envelopes as the calyx, and the inner as the corolla ; the one is 

 green and the other colored. The nature of the filamentous appen- 

 dages, or rays, as they are called, which proceed from the orifice of 

 the tube, and of tlic membranous or fleshy, entire or lobed, flat or 

 plaited annular processes, which lie between the petals and the sta- 

 mens, are ambiguous, but are probably abortive stamens. With 

 regard to the aflinity o{ Passijlorcce, Jussieu, swayed by the opinion 

 he entertains of their being apetalous, and De Candolle, who partly 

 agrees and partly disagrees with Jussieu in his view of their struc- 

 ture, both assign the order a place near Cacurbitacece ; but when we 

 consider the stipitate fruit occasionally valvular, the parietal placen- 

 tas, the sometimes irregular flowers, the stipulate leaves, and the 

 climbing habit of tiie plants, it is not difficult to admit their aflinity 

 witii Cappaiidice and Violariea — the dilated disk of the former of 

 which is probably analogous to tlie innermost of the annular pro- 

 cesses of Passiflotxoc. 



The plants composing Passijlorcoi, are the produce of South 

 America and the West Indies, where the dense forests are filled with 

 their numerous species, climbing over shrubs and trees, and bearing 

 flowers of the most curious form of striking beauty, and so singular 

 in their appearance that many christian traditions have been adapted 

 to these singular floral inhabitants of the forests. Its name is from 

 pnssio, passion, and Jlos, a flower — resemblance in crown of appen- 

 dages to the passion of Christ. 



Passijlora incarnata. Rose-colored Passion-flower. This species 



