PAS 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



PAS 



249 



16. Passerina Nervosa. Leaves lanceolate, smooth, three- 

 ribbed ; flowers in heads. Native of the Cape. 



17. Passerina Setosa. Leaves lanceolate, smooth, five- 

 nerved ; flowers in heads, bristly on the outside. Native of 

 the Cape. 



18. Passerina Stricta. Leaves ovate, hirsute ; flowers in 

 heads ; branches rigid. Native of the Cape. 



19. Passerina Pentandra. Leaves ovate, hirsute; spike 

 ovate, terminating. Native of the Cape. 



Passiflora i (altered by Linneus from the old name Flos 

 Passionis, or Passion Flower, which was given at its first 

 discovery, from a fancy that all the instruments of our Savi- 

 our's passion were exhibited in this flower : the five stamens 

 were compared to his five wounds ; the styles to the nails 

 by which he was fixed to the cross ; the column which ele- 

 vates the germen, to the cross 'itself, or the pillar to which 

 he was bound ; and the rays of the nectary, to his crown of 

 thorns.) It is placed by Linneus in the class Gynandria, 

 order Pentandria ; by Schrosber and Thunberg, in the class 

 Pentandria, order Trigynia; and by Swartz, in the class 

 Monadelphia, order Pentandria. This beautiful genus is 

 composed of climbing herbaceous plants, sometimes woody, 

 especially at bottom ; leaves alternate, stipulaceous, simple, 

 in a few undivided, in a few others multirid or palmate, but 

 in the greater part lobed ; lobes in some two, but in more 

 three. The petiole in some species is naked, in others glan- 

 dular on each side. The tendrils or claspers, by which the 

 slender weak stems sustain themselves, are axillary. The 

 peduncles are also axillary, from one to three together, each 

 sustaining a single flower, except in Passiflora Holosericea, 

 in which they are many-flowered ; below the calix they are 

 commonly jointed, and have an involucre at the joint, which 

 is frequently three-leaved or three-parted, the divisions entire, 

 or sometimes, but rarely, cut or jagged; sometimes, however, 

 this involucre is very small, or consists only of one leaf, or is 

 entirely wanting. The crown, which Linneus calls the nec- 

 tarium, constitutes great part of the beauty of the flower in 

 many of the species. In these it consists of an inner crown, 

 springing from the base of the petals, or inner calicine seg- 

 ments, and beneath them coloured, many-parted, consisting 

 of numerous filiform segments, radiating or erect; within 

 this is another double crown, of the same shape, but shorter 

 and more flatted, inserted into the pitcher ; the inmost fre- 

 quently converges round the central column. Mr. Sowerby, 

 who has bestowed much attention on this genus, remarks, 

 that the larger species, as far as he has seen, have constantly 

 two rows of principal radiated nectaries ; the smaller com- 

 monly but one, and but half the number of divisions in the 

 corolla, namely, only five ; whereas the others have from ten 

 to twelve : that the repository for honey also differs much in 

 different species, and is a part very distinct from the crown, 

 which perhaps may serve as a conductor, or help to screen 

 or secure the nectareous juice : and lastly, that there is 

 another sort, which serves as an operculum under various 

 forms, sometimes plaited, or plaited and. fringed, besides a 



kind of imperfect rays in different situations and shapes. 



The species are, 



* With undivided Leaves. 



1 . Passiflora Serratifolia ; Notch-leaved Passion Flower. 

 Leaves ovate, serrate ; stems round, the younger ones very 

 slightly villose, and climbing very high; the stipules are 

 linear and acuminate; peduncles one-flowered and solitary; 

 the calix is outwardly green, inwardly whitish ; the petals 

 pale purple ; the filamenta of the nectary are deep purple at 

 the base, from thence bluish, and at length pale ; the antherze 

 are yellow ; the stigmas greenish. The flowers have an 



extremely agreeable odour. It is perennial, flowers from 

 May to October, and is a native of the West Indies. This, 

 and all the perennial sorts which are natives of the hot parts 

 of America, require a stove to preserve them here, without 

 which they will not thrive ; for although some of the sorts 

 will live in the open air during the warm months of summer, 

 yet they make but little progress ; nor will the plants produce 

 many flowers, unless the pots in which they are planted be 

 plunged into the tan-bed of the stove, and their branches 

 are trained against an espalier. The best way to have them 

 in perfection is to make a border of earth at the back of the 

 tan-bed, which may be separated by planks, to prevent the 

 earth from mixing with the tan; and when the plants are 

 strong enough, they should be turned out of the pots, and 

 planted on this border; adjoining to which should be a 

 trellis erected at the top of the stove, and their leaves con- 

 tinuing green all the year, together with the flowers, which 

 will be plentifully intermixed in summer, will have a very 

 agreeable effect. As there will be only a plank partition 

 between the earth and the tan, the earth will be kept warm 

 by the tan-bed, which will be of great service to the roots 

 of the plants. The border should not be less than two feet 

 broad and three deep, which is the usual depth of the pit 

 for tan ; so that where these borders are intended, the pits 

 should not be less than eight feet and a half, or nine feet 

 and a half, broad, that the bark-bed, exclusive of the border, 

 may be six and a half or seven feet wide. If the border be 

 fenced off with strong ship planks, they will last some years, 

 especially if they are painted over with a composition of 

 melted pitch, brick-dust, and oil, which will preserve them 

 sound a long time ; and the earth should be taken out care- 

 fully from between the roots of the plants, at least once a 

 year, putting in fresh. They are propagated by seeds, which 

 should be sown upon a good hot-bed in the spring, and 

 when the plants are fit to remove, they should be each planted 

 in a small pot, filled with good kitchen-garden earth, and 

 plunged into a bed of tanner's bark, observing to shade 

 them from the sun until they have taken new root ; then 

 they must be treated like other tender plants from the same 

 countries. When they are too high to remain under the 

 glasses of the hot-bed, they should be turned out of the pots 

 and planted in the stove, in the manner before mentioned. 

 As they do not perfect their seeds here, they may be pro- 

 pagated by laying down their branches ; which if done in 

 April, they will put out roots by the middle of August, 

 when they may be separated from the old plants, and either 

 planted in pots to get strength, or into the border of the 

 stove where they are to remain. Some of them may be 

 propagated by cuttings ; these should be planted into pots 

 about the middle or latter end of March, and plunged into 

 a moderate hot-bed, observing to screen them from the sun, 

 and refresh them with water gently, as often as the earth 

 may require it; and in about two months or ten weeks they 

 will put out roots, and may then be treated as the seedling 

 plants. 



2. Passiflora Pallida ; Pale Passion Flower. Leaves 

 ovate, quite entire ; petioles biglandular ; stem perennial, 

 long, round, branching, climbing, solitary tendrils ; flowers 

 pale, large, axillary, two together ; corolla five-petalled, flat, 

 with a crown. Native of Brasil, the island of Dominica, 

 and Cochin-china. See the preceding species. 



3. I assiflora Cuprea ; Copper-coloured Passion Flower. 

 Leaves ovate, commonly quite entire ; petioles equal. This 

 has slender three-cornered stalks, which send out tendrils at 

 each joint, fastening themselves to any neighbouring support 

 by them, and climbing to the height of twelve or fourteen 



