2480 



PASSERINA 



PASSIFLORA 



PASSERINA (Latin, sparrow, from the supposed 

 resemblance of the seed to the head of a sparrow; or 

 possibly after one of the Passerinis, two Italian bota- 

 nists). Thymelseacese. Heath-like shrubs sparingly used 

 in horticulture: Ivs. small, decussately opposite: fls. 

 hermaphrodite, in axillary, branched spikes; perianth- 

 tube ovoid, with 4 spreading lobes often about as long 

 as the tube; stamens 8; ovary subsessile, glabrous, 

 1-celled. About 5 species from S. Afr. P. filifdrmis, 

 Linn. Branches puberulent: Ivs. acerose-linear, 3- 

 cornered, rather acute: spikes terminal, many-fid.; 

 fls. rose; calyx-lobes oval or oblong. S. Afr. 



PASSIFLORA (i. e., passion flower). Including 

 Disemma and Tacsonia. Passifloracese. PASSION- 

 FLOWER. Highly interesting herbs, shrubs, or trees, 

 most of the cultivated kinds climbing by means of 

 tendrils, with flowers of odd structure; some of them 

 produce edible fruits. 



Mostly vines, but some species erect: Ivs. alternate, 

 rarely opposite, the petiole usually gland-bearing, the 

 blade entire, digitately lobed or parted, stipules some- 

 tunes present: tendrils (sometimes wanting) lateral, 

 simple: fls. solitary or racemose, mostly axillary, on 

 articulated and often 3-bracted peduncles, mostly 

 hermaphrodite, with colors in yellow, green, blue and 

 red, often large and showy; calyx with short tube (also 

 with long tube when Tacsonia is included), the lobes or 

 petals 4 or 5 and narrow, often colored inside, bearing 

 on the throat a simple double or triple showy fringe or 

 crown; petals 4 or 5 (sometimes wanting, or 3), attached 

 on the calyx-throat; stamens 4 or 5, the filaments 

 joined into a tube in which is the gynophore or stalk of 

 the ovary, the anthers linear-oblong and versatile; 

 ovary oblong or nearly globular, with 3 styles and 3 

 many-ovuled parietal placentae: fr. large or small, 

 berry-like, many-seeded, oblong or globular; seeds flat, 

 mostly ovate, with a fleshy aril. Species probably 

 250-300. By some, the genus Tacsonia is separated 

 from Passiflora, but it 

 is here combined; it 

 differs in having an 

 elongated rather than 

 very short calyx-tube 

 or hypanthium; An- 

 dean species. See 

 Tacsonia. 



With the exception 

 of a few Malayan, 

 Chinese and Australian 

 species, the true passi- 

 floras are natives of 

 tropical America, some 

 of them in the sub- 

 tropical and warm tem- 

 perate parts. Many of 

 them are cultivated as 

 curiosities, and some of 

 them for the beauty of 

 their flowers and for 

 their festooning foliage. 

 The fruit is of many 

 kinds, in most cases not 

 edible. The ovary is 2768 Fruit of Maypop. Passiflora 

 supported on a long incarnata. (X%) 



stalk, which is inclosed 



in or usually united with the tube formed by the union 

 of the bases of the filaments. The structure of the fruit 

 is well shown in Fig. 2768; the remains of the floral 

 envelopes have broken from the attachment on the torus 

 and rest on the fruit. A dozen passifloras occur in the 

 United States, and one of them, P. lutea, grows naturally 

 as far north as southern Pennsylvania and Illinois. From 

 Virginia south, the Maypop, P. incarnata, is a very 

 common plant in fields and waste places. Both these 

 species are herbaceous perennials. 



In cultivation, the passifloras have been considerably 

 hybridized, and they are also confused with Tacsonia. 

 In 1871 Masters enumerated 184 species (Trans. Linn. 

 Soc. 27), but many species have been discovered since 

 that time. Most of the passion-flowers are yellow or 

 green in color of envelopes, but there are fine reds in 

 P. racemosa, P. Raddiana,P. coccinea, P. alata,P. vitifolia, 

 and others. The species known to gardeners are few, 

 although many kinds are or have been in cultivation 

 by fanciers and in collections. They usually require 

 much rafter room in greenhouses. According to G. W. 

 Oliver, P. cserulea and Constance Elliott are both hardy 

 at Washington. Not many of the tender species and 

 hybrids are grown to any great extent in this country. 

 P. alata and P. quadrangularis are desirable climbers for 

 a roomy warm greenhouse. P. quadrangularis var. 

 variegata seems to flower quite as freely as the green- 

 leaved one. Passifloras are propagated from cuttings 

 of the half-ripened growth, with bottom heat. P. 

 racemosa and P. Loudonii are a trifle difficult to root 

 from cuttings; the growths should be as ripe as possible 

 for this purpose. Keep the under surface of the leaves 

 flat on the sand while rooting. The native P. incarnata 

 grows very freely at Washington, becoming more or less 

 of a weed and hard to eradicate. 



The peculiar charm of these plants lies in the odd 

 flowers, the parts of which were fancied by the early 

 Spanish and Italian travelers to represent the imple- 

 ments of the crucifixion (whence both the technical and 

 popular names) . Legend and superstition have attached 

 to these plants from the first. The ten colored parts of 

 the floral envelope were thought to represent the ten 

 apostles present at the crucifixion, Peter and Judas 

 being absent. Inside the corolla is a showy crown or 

 corona of colored filaments or fringes, taken to repre- 

 sent the crown of thorns, or by some thought to be 

 emblematic of the halo. The stamens are five, to some 

 suggestive of the five wounds, by others thought to be 

 emblematic of the hammers which were used to drive 

 the three nails, the latter being represented by the 

 three styles with capitate stigmas. The long axillary 

 coiling tendrils represent the cords or the scourges. The 

 digitate leaves suggest the hands of the persecutors. The 

 following sketch of the passion-flower legend is from 

 Folkard's "Plant Lore, Legends and Lyrics," and the 

 illustration (Fig. 2769) is also produced from that book : 

 "The passion-flower (Passiflora cserulea) is a wild flower 

 of the South American forests, and it is said that the 

 Spaniards, when they first saw the lovely bloom of 

 this plant, as it hung in rich festoons from the branches 

 of the forest trees, regarded the magnificent blossom as 

 a token that the Indians should be converted to Chris- 

 tianity, as they saw in its several parts the emblems of 

 the passion of our Lord. In the year 1610, Jacomo 

 Bosio, the author of an exhaustive treatise on the Cross 

 of Calvary, was busily engaged on this work when there 

 arrived in Rome an Augustinian friar, named Emman- 

 uel de Villegas, a Mexican by birth. He brought with 

 him, and showed to Bosio, the drawing of a flower so 

 'stupendupusly marvelous,' that he hesitated making 

 any mention of it in his book. However, some other 

 drawings and descriptions were sent to him by inhabi- 

 tants of New Spain, and certain Mexican Jesuits, 

 sojourning at Rome, confirmed all the astonishing 

 reports of this floral marvel; moreover, some Domini- 

 cans at Bologna engraved and published a drawing of it, 

 accompanied by poems and descriptive essays. Bosio 

 therefore conceived it to be his duty to present the 

 Flos Passionis to the world as the most wondrous 

 example of the Croce trionfante discovered in forest or 

 field. The flower represents, he tells us, not so directly 

 the Cross of our Lord, as the past mysteries of the 

 Passion. It is a native of the Indies, of Peru, and of 

 New Spain, where the Spaniards call it 'the Flower of 

 the Five Wounds,' and it had clearly been designed by 

 the great Creator that it might, in due time, assist in 



