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Jpassitlora CQTulcU. Natural Order: Pcissifloracece—Passion Flower Family. 
pOSTLY natives of the tropical portions of America, the 
Passion Flowers climb to a great height — frequently from 
thirty to forty feet, the stem attaining the thickness of 
three or four inches in diameter. The foliage is palmate, 
y being divided into five lobes in the Brazilian variety, and 
z^Mnto three parts in the North American plants. The flowers, 
though transient, are large and beautiful. The petals, which are 
blue without, are lined with purple and white within, and 
spread themselves out in a flattened manner, with a row of filaments 
arranged around an inner circle, while erect stands the supposed 
resemblance of the cross. Several varities are native in the United 
States. Among them are found flowers of red, purple, crimson, 
% and red and white. Some of the species are adapted to the hot¬ 
house, and others to the greenhouse or conservatory. All are beautiful 
and attractive. The flower was named jlos passionis by the early missionaries, 
who in their religious zeal imagined they saw emblems of the crucifixion — the 
crown of thorns, nails, hammer, etc. — in the various parts of the curious blossom. 
T)olij h U u 
TATE see Thy hand — it leads us, it supports us; 
We hear Thy voice — it counsels and it courts us; 
And then we turn away, and still thy kindness 
Forgives our blindness. — John Borvring. 
T'HY wonders do singly stand, 
Nor far removed where feet have seldom stray’d ; 
Around us ever lies the enchanted land, 
In marvels rich to Thine own sons displayed. 
— Jones Very. 
A SINGLE passion flower pressed 
1 1 Is what my wistful eye engages, 
And all the sign of love once blest 
Lies buried ’tween the written pages. 
FOR this a hundred voices I desire, [tire, 
To tell thee what a hundred tongues would 
Yet never could be worthily exprest: 
How deeply thou art seated in my breast. 
— Dryden. 
But oh! the flower to you and me 
A deeper mystery unrolls, 
For written on its leaves T see 
The record of two burning souls! 
—H. H. Leech. 
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