25 
PASSIFLORA KERMESINA. 
(crimson passion flower.) 
CLASS. ORDER. 
MONADELPHIA. PENTANDRIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
PASSIFLOREiE. 
Generic Character. — Calyx inferior, in 5 divisions, coloured. Corolla 5 petals, inserted in the calyx. 
Nectarium , a crown. Fruit , a fleshy, smooth, berry, rarely hairy, containing many seeds^ 
Specific Character. — The whole plant smooth ; leaves heart-shaped, cut into three lobes, slightly 
toothed, leaf-stalks, each having two glandular hairs ; flower-stalks solitary, much longer than those 
of the leaves ; calyx and corolla carmine colour ; corona or crown purple ; — a very beautiful slender 
climber. 
In speaking of this splendid species, we cannot do better than give the words of 
Professor Lindley : — “ This is beyond all comparison the most beautiful species in 
cultivation, except racemosa. Its flowers have a richness of colour which art cannot 
imitate ,* they are produced in very great abundance at almost all seasons ; and in 
consequence of the length of the slender stalks from which they singly hang, the 
whole plant has a graceful aspect, which is unrivalled even among passion-flowers.” 
It was introduced to the Horticultural Society garden in 1831, from Berlin. 
It thrives well with us at Chatsworth, potted in a mixture of loam and peat, 
and placed in the orchidea stove, where it obtains plenty of heat and moisture. 
If cuttings be made of the firmest of the previous season’s wood, in May, and 
they be planted in pots well drained with potsherds, and filled up with sand, and 
afterwards placed in a temperature of from 70 to 80 deg. Fahr., drying them 
occasionally to prevent their damping off, but little difficulty will be found in 
striking them. These will make fine plants by autumn. 
The greater part of this genus require the heat of the stove ; the P. quadran - 
gulans, in particular, seldom does well except it be grown in the corner or side of 
a bark bed. Either, therefore, make a square partition with bricks or boards one 
foot wide, and two feet deep, or make a box for the purpose, and plunge it on one 
side of the tan pit ; leave in this box or division several holes round the sides, for 
the egress of the roots, fill the box with good rich loam, and place in the plant. 
Every autumn shorten the stems of the plant in a similar manner to cutting a 
vine : that is, if the young shoots are found weak, shorten them to two or three 
eyes off the old wood, and the stronger ones proportionally. In February, just 
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