346 Passion-Flowers. 



Passijlora coendea and its varieties are moderately hardy, and will bloom 

 in summer in the garden, requiring to be laid down and covered with earth 

 during the winter. 



The flesh-colored passion-flower (/'. incarnatd) is of semi-herbaceous habit, 

 and sometimes survives the winter if well protected. Most of the remain- 

 ing species, including all the Tacsonias, are greenhouse or stove plants, 

 alike ornamental for neatness of habit, and profusion of bloom ; though 

 some, if bedded out in a warm, sheltered situation, flower freely in the 

 garden during the summer. 



Passijlora jilamcntosa, lutea, pallida^ 7naliformis, e dulls ^ ligularis, ornata, 

 and many others, have edible fruits. 



Of these, P. edulis, a West-Indian species, fruits very freely in a stove, 

 thougli the flowers are white, and of no great beauty. 



P. maliformis is the sweet-calabash of the West Indies. P. laurifoUa is 

 the well-known water-lemon, and is of easy culture. P. quadrangularis 

 is the Granadilla, which is of not unfrequent occurrence in our greenhouses : 

 the stem is angular, of strong growth, producing a profusion of green, red, 

 and purple flowers, which are followed by fruit about the size of a hen's 

 egg, purple, and filled with juicy pulp and seeds. The flavor is sickish- 

 sweet and peculiar ; and fondness for Granadillas is an acquired taste. 



The subject of our illustration is properly a Tacsonia, and is a new spe- 

 cies recently discovered on the Isthmus of Panama, and sent to the well- 

 known florist, Isaac Buchanan of New York, for whom it is worthily 

 named Tacsonia Buchanani. Plants were communicated to Verschaftelt, by 

 whom it was figured in " L'lUustration Horticole," plate 519, from which 

 our figure is taken, as, owing to the plant not being in flower at the present 

 time, we were unable to obtain specimens for illustration. 



Mr. Buchanan writes us that the natural color of the flower is far brighter 

 than in Verschafifelt's illustration, " being a very bright scarlet, more so 

 than in any verbena." In habit it is a strong grower, and blooms freely 

 when very young, the young shoots being masses of bloom. Altogether 

 it is a great acquisition. 



There is another fine passion-flower which deserves general culture, — 

 P. Empress Eugenie, a hybrid between P. ccerulea and P. alata or edulis, as 

 it seems to possess some of the characteristics of all these species. It is a 



