PARSNIP 



PASSIFLORA 



1219 



for any other garden crop. The seed should be strictly 

 fresh, as it soon loses its vitality. Sow it in early spring, 

 preferably with a garden seed-drill, K-l in. deep, in 

 rows 15-20 in. apart in the garden, and somewhat far- 

 ther in field culture. Be prompt in thinning the young 

 seedlings to 3-4 in. apart in the row; at the same time 

 pull up or cut out all weeds. The free use of the 

 hand wheel-hoe will keep the patch clean until the en- 

 tire surface of the ground is covered with foliage, thus 

 preventing further growth of weeds. Cultivation may 

 then cease. 



The varieties are few in number. For shallow, stony 

 or otherwise unfavorable soils we have the Round or 

 Early Short Round ; for better soils the Half-Long, 

 Student, or Hollow Crown; and for deep, clean soils the 

 Long Smooth. 



Seed is easily grown. Plant the roots in spring in any 

 good soil, and gather the seed heads when most of the 

 seeds in them are mature. Dry them on sheets, and 

 then thrash or strip. 



For botanical account of Parsnip, see Pastinaca, 



T. GREINER. 



PARTHENIUM integrifolium, the American Fever- 

 few or Prairie Dock, has been offered by one dealer 

 in hardy herbaceous perennials, but the plant is de- 

 sirable only for foliage effects ; and the fls. are not 

 showy. It is pictured in B.B. 3:411 and described in 

 American manuals. The genus has little horticultural 

 value. 



PARTRIDGE -BERRY. Mitchellarepens. Sometimes 

 applied to Gaultheria procumbens. 



PASCALIA glauca is a composite from Chile which 

 is probably not in cult. The plant cult, under this name 

 in England, and once offered by John Saul, is probably 

 the plant shown in P.M. 8:125, which is believed to 

 be a Helianthus. It is not hardy and there seems to be 

 little reason for cultivating it here, because we have so 

 many hardy sunflowers. 



PASQUE FLOWER. Anemone Pulsatilla. 



PASSIFLORA (i.e., Passionflower). Passiflordcece. 

 PASSION-FLOWER. A large tropical genus of highly 

 interesting herbs, shrubs, or trees, but most of them 

 climbing by means of tendrils. 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 implements of the crucifixion (whence 

 both the technical and popular names). The flower is 

 usually subtended by 2 or 3 calyx-like bracts. The calyx 

 has 5 petal-like lobes. The corolla is of 5 petals. The 

 ten colored parts of the floral envelope were thought 

 to represent the 10 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 represent the crown of thorns, or by some 

 thought to be emblematic of the halo. The stamens are 

 5, 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 repre- 

 sented by the 3 styles with capitate stigmas. The long 

 axillary coiling tendrils represented the cords or the 

 scourges. The digitate leaves suggested the hands of 

 the persecutors. Fig. 1649 is an old representation of 

 the Passion-flower. Consult Tacsonia. 



The following sketch of the Passion-flower legend is 

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

 the illustration (Fig. 1649) is also reproduced from 

 that book: "The Passion-flower (Passi flora ccerulea) 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 Christianity, as they saw in its several parts the em- 

 blems 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 Autrustinian friar, 

 named Emmanuel do Ville^as. a Mexican by birth. He 

 brought with him, and showed to Bosio, the drawing of 



a flower so ' stupendously marvelous, tnat he hesitated, 

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

 other drawings and descriptions were sent to him by 

 inhabitants of New Spain, and certain Mexican Jesuits, 

 sojourning at Rome, confirmed all the astonishing re- 

 ports of this floral marvel; moreover, some Dominicans 

 at Bologna engraved and published a drawing of it, ac- 

 companied 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 

 the conversion of the heathen among whom it grows. 

 Alluding to the bell-like shape assumed by the flower 

 during the greater part of its existence (i. e., whilst 

 it is expanding and fading), Bosio remarks: 'And it 

 may well be that, in his infinite wisdom, it pleased him 

 to create it thus shut up and protected, as though to 

 indicate that the wonderful mysteries of the cross and 

 of his passion were to remain hidden from the heathen 

 people of those countries until the time preordained by 

 His Highest Majesty.' The figure given to the Passion- 



1649. Old conception of the Passion-flower. 

 From Folkard's "Plant Lore," and there taken from Zahn. 



flower in Bosio's work shows the crown of thorns twisted 

 and plaited, the three nails, and the column of the flag- 

 ellation just as they appear on ecclesiastical banners, 

 etc. ' The upper petals,' writes Bosio in his description , 

 ' are tawny in Peru, but in New Spain they are white, 

 tinged with rose. The filaments above resemble a 

 blood-coloured fringe, as though suggesting the scourge 

 with which our blessed Lord .was tormented. The col- 

 umn rises in the middle. The nails are above it; the 

 crown of thorns encircles the column; and close in the 

 center of the flower from which the column rises is a 

 portion of a yellow colour, about the size of a reale, in 

 which are five spots or stains of the hue of blood, evi- 



