I found this beautiful flower while out walking in the neighborhood.

I’m not sure if it’s Blue Passion Flower (Passiflora Caerulea) because it lacks blue coronal filaments, or Constance Elliott since it’s filaments are not pure white but half-white and half purple.

The flower was also fragrant. Interestingly, while I was researching about this plant, I found out that its name, passion flower was in reference to the passion of Jesus. That is,

* the pointed tips of the leaves were taken to represent the Holy Lance
* the tendrils represent the whips used in flagellation of Christ
* the 10 petals and sepals represent the 10 faithful apostles (they excluded St. Peter who denied Jesus and Judas who betrayed him)
* the radial filaments represent the crown of thorns
* the chalice-shaped ovary with its receptacle represents a hammer or the Holy Grail
* the 3 stigmas represent the 3 nails and the 5 anthers below them the 5 wounds

No wonder it’s also called Jesus flower.

Here’s a closer shot.


Pardon the photo quality since I used just an iPod Touch to take these photos.

For further reading about Passiflora, click HERE.