PASSION-FLOWER. 101 



Cardinal Farnesius; as also in a work thai 

 was published, in folio, at Rome, in 1625, 

 under the title of " Exactissima descriptio 

 variorum quarumdam plantarum qute continen- 

 ts Romce in horto Farnesiano. Tobias Aldi- 

 nus Cesenatensis, Card. Odoardi Farnesii Me- 

 dicus. It was also figured in a work, entitled, 

 Theatrum Flora Johannis Robini, publish- 

 ed at Paris in 1612, and by Parkinson, in 

 1629, who tells us, that it had not then pro- 

 duced fruit in England. 



When it was first introduced into Italy, 

 superstition found a mysterious representation 

 of the passion of Christ in this flower ; and 

 the crafty, who are always ready to impose on 

 the credulous, soon turned this vegetable pro- 

 digy to account. The plant was pronounced 

 a miraculous emblem of the sufferings of the 

 Son of God, and received the sanctimonious 

 titles of Fior della Passione, Flos Passionis, 

 and Christi Passionis Imago. The leaf of the 

 plant was expounded to be the spear which 

 pierced the side; the twined thready sub- 

 stances of red and white, which form the 

 crown of the flower, and which nature seems 

 to have intended as a security for the nectar, 

 were made to represent the lashes of the whip 

 tinged with blood ; the fine encircling stamens 



h 3 



