Friday 16 August 2013

A Religious Story told by a Plant

One of the plants that we've had success with this year is the Passion Flower(passiflora caerulea). Legend has it that Roman Catholic priests used the passion flower to illustrate the story of the Crucifixion, I'll try and explain
  The pointed tip on the leaves represented the Holy Lance
  The tendrils represent the whips used in the flagellation of Christ.
  The ten petals(sepals) represent the ten faithful apostles(Peter and Judas omitted)
  The flowers radial filaments which can number 100 represent the crown of thorns
  The chalice shaped ovary with its receptacle represents a hammer or the Holy Grail
  The 3 stigmata represent the 3 nails and the 5 anthers below them the represent the 5 wounds

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