154 
THE LADIES’ FLOWER-GARDEN 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
PASSIFLORACEtE Juss. 
Essential Character. — Calyx of five or ten sepals, combined into 
a short or elongated tube, free at the apex, disposed in one or two 
series ; outer lobes large, foliaceous ; inner ones alternating with the 
outer ones, and more petal-like than them, sometimes these last are 
wanting altogether ; the sides or throat are lined by filaments or annu- 
lar or membranous coloured processes, which are disposed in one or 
more series, having the bottom usually closed by a lid-formed ap- 
pendage. Petals five in some of the genera, but wanting altogether in 
others. Stamens five. Filaments opposite the exterior lobes of the 
calyx, joined into a long tube which sheaths the stipe of the ovarium ; 
anthers fixed by the back, peltate, reflexed, turned outwards, two- 
celled, bursting lengthwise. Torus elongated into a long cylindrical , 
stipe. Ovarium seated on the stipe, ovate, free. Styles three, rising ^ 
from the same point, crorvned by a stigma each, which is somewhat 
two-lobed. Fruit naked, or surrounded by the calyx, stalked, one- 
celled, three-valved, having a polyspermous parietal placenta in the i 
middle of each valve ; the valves sometimes dry and dehiscing, some- | 
times fleshy and indehiscent. Seeds attached in several rows to the ii 
placentas, usually clothed with a large pulpy aril, compressed, and j 
generally scrobiculate. Embryo straight, in the centre of the fleshy i' 
thin albumen, having a terete radicle, which is turned towards the ij 
hylum ; cotyledons flat and foliaceous. {Q. Don.) 
Description, &c. — The plants belonging to this order are generally very ornamental, but most of them require 
a stove in this country, and only a few of the species belonging to the genus Passiflora, and those included in 
Tacsonia, are greenhouse plants. 
GENUS I. 
PASSIFLORA Juss. THE PASSION FLOWER. 
Un. Syst. MONADELPHIA PENTANDRIA. 
Generic Character. — Tube of the calyx very short, having the throat ornamented with a filamentous crown. Berry usually pulpy, rarely 
membranous. (0. Don.) 
Description, &c. — The plants belonging to this genus have all climbing stems and veiy ornamental flowers, j; 
which are very curiously formed. When the plant was originally observed by the Spaniards in Peru, the priests |j 
fancied that they discovered in the form of the flower a mysterious representation of the Passion of our Saviour. ' 
The leaf they expounded to be the spear which pierced his side ; the twined threads of red and white which form 
the crown of the flower were supposed the symbol of the lashes of the whip tinged with blood ; the five encircling j 
stamens the crown of thorns ; the pistil the column to which our Lord was bound during the flagellation ; and the 
three divisions of the stigma the three nails used in the crucifixion. From this supposed emblematical interpreta- i 
tion, the plant received the name of the Passion Flower, and “ figures of it were manufactured for devotional i 
purposes, made up of crude representations of the instruments themselves instead of their presumptive symbols.” 
The fruit of some of the species is eaten, and it is called Granadilla from a supposed resemblance to the fruit of the 
Pomegranate. Most of the species require a stove in this country, but some few are greenhouse plants. Ij 
1.— PASSIFLORA CAIRULEA Lin. 
Synonvmes.- — Gi anadilla pcntapliyllos Du Hamel ; Clematis quin- 
quefolia Roh. 
Engravings. — Bot. Mag., t. 28 ; Bot. Reg., t. 488 ; and om fig. 1, 
in PI. 31. 
THE COMMON PASSION FLOWER. 
Specific Character.-— Leaves palmate, five-parted ; segments 
entire. Petioles glandulous. Involucre three-leaved ; leaves entire. 
Crown of threads shorter than the corolla. 
Description, &c. — This species is very nearly hardy. It is a native of Brazil and Peru, whence it was intro- 
duced about 1699. The common Passion Flower is a climbing shrub, extending itself when it has proper support 
to the height of twenty feet or more. The branches when old are cylindrical, but when young they are sometimes 
slightly cornered in the upper part. The fruit is ovate, of an orange-yellow when ripe, and about the size of a large 
