[Leica] IMG: interesting flower

[red735i at verizon.net (Frank Filippone)]

PASSION FLOWER is a woody vine that has unusual blossoms. Roman Catholic
priests of the late 1500's named it for the Passion (suffering and death) of
Jesus Christ. They believed that several parts of the plant, including the
petals, rays, and sepals, symbolized features of the Passion. The flower's
five petals and five petallike sepals represented the 10 apostles who
remained faithful to Jesus throughout the Passion. The circle of hairlike
rays above the petals suggested the crown of thorns that Jesus wore on the
day of His death.
The priests who named the vine found it growing in what is now Latin
America. Today, gardeners in many parts of the world raise passion flowers
for the blossoms. The flowers may be almost any color. Their diameter ranges
from 1/2 inch to 6 inches. Most of the approximately 400 species of
passion-flowers grow in warm regions of North and South America. The maypop,
the common PASSION FLOWER of the Southern United States, bears a yellow
fruit. These fruits taste slightly sour or very sweet, depending on the
species. Passion flowers grown for passionfruit juice are Passiflora edulis
flavicarpa.

Frank Filippone
Red735i at verizon.net