By Joseph Sabine, Esq. 



109 



printed in 1636, describes the Maracoc or Passion Flower, 

 saying, that the plant, which the Spaniards in the West In- 

 dies call Grafiadilla, is the same which the Virginians call 

 Maracoc. After giving a figure of the plant, which has the 

 appearance of originality, he states, that it " grows wild in 

 most of the hot countries of America, from whence it has been 

 brought into our English gardens, where it grows very well, 

 but flowers only in some few places, and in hot and season- 

 able years. It is in good plenty, growing with Mistress 

 Tuggy, at Westminster, where I have some years seen it 

 bear a great many flowers." 



The differences between the plant I have now described, 

 and the Purple-fruited Passion Flower, are, that the first is 

 herbaceous, and the other shrubby, and these peculiarities 

 are not affected by change of climate or situation : the leaves 

 of the latter are perfectly smooth and shining, those of the 

 former are somewhat hairy ; the two glands, which in both 

 are to be observed on the footstalks of the leaves, in the first 

 are placed exactly on the point where the lateral nerves of 

 the leaf are joined to the petiole, in the other, they are, though 

 near, manifestly separated from this junction, and are 

 also much larger ; in the first, the germen is hairy, and in 

 the latter it is smooth ; and the colour of the fruit in one 

 is yellow, and in the other purple. On these differences 

 the specific character of the new plant will probably be 

 formed. 



Having confidently stated my opinion, that the Virginian 

 plant is the true Passiflora incarnata of Linnaeus, I now pro- 

 ceed to shew, on what grounds that opinion is founded. In 

 1753, Linn/eus published his Species Plantarum, into which 



