i sent the same message to the wrong forum a few minutes ago, i felt stupid after discovering there's a "plant identification" forum, anyways, here's what it said: Hi everyone. I was searching on google for someone who could identify a flower i found while taking a walk. I found this website and noticed that it's full of people who have wide knowledge in botanical subjects. This is my first message and i was hoping that someone could help me identifying the flower on the attached picture. It's the first time i see this flower, that's why i found it sort of weird, i hope some of you are familiar with it and can tell me the name of it. Thanks a lot for your help.
No need to feel stupid. Blame the person in charge of how everything is organized on here (me). It's a vexing problem, and I'm trying to come up with quick ways to make the interface less complicated. Passiflora search on these forums.
Thanks, seems it is a passiflora. But when comparing to other pictures i can't say if it's a passiflora caerulea or a passiflora edulis . (it had no fruits when i took the picture by the way, so i can't compare the fruits)
Blue Passion Flower Mandala Nizar, Tried to send you a private message, but it didn't go through. As requested, I created a mandala image from your photo and am posting it in the Flower Mandalas forum. Thanks for thinking of me. - David
That is a Passion Flower / Passiflora. There are hundreds of varieties. You might be interested in learning the legend of the Passion Flower here is a link to one of the places that provide information. http://www.gardenline.usask.ca/plants/passion.html The priest (or some say it was a nun) that found and named this flower used it as a tool to teach people about the crucifixion of Jesus. The ten petals (actually five petals and five sepals) represent the 10 diciples present; minus Judas and Peter. The three stigma represent the nails. The filiments on top of the petals represent the crown of thorns and some include the leaves are the shape of the Roman soldiers spears. There area almost as many versions of this legend as there are varieties of passiflora but you get the idea.
Not to be too pedantic, but the plant, Passiflora caerulea, was named in Western science by Linnaeus. Of course, the native peoples of the area were the first to discover and name it. Wikipedia points out it being associated with Christian symbolism, but that is somewhat different from it being found and named in such a manner.
Since you started--you might note that the priest predates Linnaeus by a hundred years (or more). "The Legend. Legend has it that in 1620 a Jesuit priest in Peru came across the plant we now know as passion flower. Enthralled with its beauty, that night he had a vision likening its floral parts to the elements of the Crucifixion or Passion of Christ. The five petals and five sepals became the ten apostles (omitting Peter and Judas). The three pistils became the nails of the cross; the purple corona (or filaments) was the crown of thorns, and the stemmed ovary was the Lord's goblet. " http://www.gardenline.usask.ca/plants/passion.html "The passion flower was discovered in 1569 by Spanish explorers in Peru who saw the flowers as symbolic of the passion of Christ, and therefore a sign of Christ's approval of their efforts. This is the origin of the scientific and common names. The folklore surrounding this plant possibly dates further into the past. The floral parts are thought to represent the elements of the crucifixion (3 styles represent 3 nails, 5 stamens for the 5 wounds, the ovary looks like a hammer, the corona is the crown of thorns, the petals represent the 10 true apostles, and the white and bluish purple colors are those of purity and heaven)."http://www.drugs.com/npc/passion-flower.html Since you like Wikipedia.... "Passion" does not refer to love, but to the Passion of Christ on the cross. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish Christian missionaries discovered this flower and adopted its unique physical structures as symbols of Crucifixion. For example: the 72 radial filaments (or corona) represent the Crown of Thorns. The ten petals and sepals represent the ten faithful apostles. The top 3 stigmata represent the 3 nails and the lower 5 anthers represent the 5 wounds. The flower has been given names related to this symbolism throughout Europe since that time. In Spain, it is known as Espina de Cristo (Christ's Thorn). In Germany it was once known as Muttergottes-Schuzchen (Mother-of-God's Star).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passion_flower" Carl Linnaeus: "He was born on May 23, 1707, at Stenbrohult, in the province of Småland in southern Sweden. His father, Nils Ingemarsson Linnaeus, was both an avid gardener and a Lutheran pastor, and Carl showed a deep love of plants and a fascination with their names from a very early age. Carl disappointed his parents by showing neither aptitude nor desire for the priesthood, but his family was somewhat consoled when Linnaeus entered the University of Lund in 1727 to study medicine. A year later, he transferred to the University of Uppsala, the most prestigious university in Sweden. However, its medical facilities had been neglected and had fallen into disrepair. Most of Linaeus's time at Uppsala was spent collecting and studying plants, his true love. At the time, training in botany was part of the medical curriculum, for every doctor had to prepare and prescribe drugs derived from medicinal plants. Despite being in hard financial straits, Linnaeus mounted a botanical and ethnographical expedition to Lapland in 1731 (the portrait above shows Linnaeus as a young man, wearing a version of the traditional Lapp costume and holding a shaman's drum). In 1734 he mounted another expedition to central Sweden." http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/linnaeus.html P.S. We southeners also call it the Maypop because it pops up in May.
And Linnaeus took the generic name Passiflora from Leonard Plukenet's 1696 'Almagestum Botanicum,' which cites an earlier work by Federico Cesi.
Federico Cesi sounds like a curious character: Fair enough re: Christian symbolism and some of the European common names. The point I failed to make clearly is that it was discovered long before any European set foot on South America and named by the native people of the area soon after discovery, at least 8500 years ago, if not more.
Looks like passiflora 'Jara' a cross between P. caerulea and P. 'Purple Haze'. It was named after the breeder Roland Fischer's daughter(1998).
