Passion Flower. 
(FAITH.) 
M OST of the Passion Flowers are natives of South 
America ; and although some of them have been 
induced to open their starry-leaved blossoms to the less glow¬ 
ing sun of these colder climes, it is only in the land of their 
birth that they can be seen in all their unsurpassed loveliness. 
There they are larger, brighter-hued, and far more fragrant ; 
there they are to be seen in the dense forests twining their 
cdorious coronals around the massive trunks of everlasting trees, 
or else in waves of radiant beauty flowing over the myriad 
splendours that 
“ The floor of Nature’s temple tesselate 
With numerous emblems of instructive duty.” 
Yes, those who would view this glorious symbol oi faithful¬ 
ness in its unshorn loveliness must seek it in the immense forests 
of Brazil, blossoming amid all that grandeur, “ boundless as our 
wonder,” of which Humboldt has so nobly told. There, in that 
fane, most catholic and solemn,” 
“ The faint passion flower, the sad and holy, 
Tells of diviner hopes;” 
and there it was that the peculiarities of its delicately-shaped 
blossom first attracted the notice of the invading Spaniards, 
who were then desolating surrounding nature with fire and 
sword, under the vile pretence of spreading the religion of 
peace and goodwill towards all men. 
In the thread-like coloured stamens which surround the 
flower-like rays, and in the various curious portions that com¬ 
bine to form this “floral apostle,” are discovered a representa¬ 
tion of the crown of thorns, the scourge, the cross, the sponge, 
the nails, and the five wounds of Christ; indeed, all the teriible 
paraphernalia necessary to portray the Passion of Jesus. The 
