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Floivers and Plants 



The Passion-flower derives its name from an idea 

 that all the instruments of our Lord's passion are 

 represented upon it. " Nature herself grieves at the 

 Crucifixion, as is denoted by the flower representing 

 the five wounds, and the column or pillar of 

 scourging, besides the three nails, and the crown of 

 thorns," — or, as the writer of the " Catholic Florist " 

 expresses it : — 



* ' The leaves repi-esent the spear which pierce'd our 

 Saviour's side ; the tendrils, the cords which bound His hands, 

 or the stripes with which He was scourged ; the ten petals, 

 the ten Apostles who deserted Him ; the pillar in the centre 

 of the flower, the Cross ; the stamina, the hammers ; the 

 styles, the nails ; the inner circle about the central pillar, the 

 crown of thorns ; the radius round it, the nimbus of glory ; 

 the white in the flower is an emblem of purity ; the blue, a 

 type of heaven. 



**Tt keeps open three days, and then dies; denoting the 

 death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord." 



This fanciful idea has also been applied to other 

 flowers and trees. For example, there is a legend 

 that the accursed tree " was made of the wood of 

 the aspen tree; whose leaves, since the Crucifixion, 



