‘Passion flower’ - you’re thinking steamy scenes in Spanish-language soap operas, right? Surprisingly, the name didn’t derive from those particular melodramas but rather a whole other type of unforgettable passion. Yep, that of Jesus Christ himself. In fact, the connection is almost absurdly specific: the ten petals and sepals represent the ten faithful apostles (no petal for you St. Peter the denier! No sepal for you Judas the betrayer!); the radial filaments represent the crown of thorns… We’ll stop there because I’ll be honest, it all gets pretty dark from that point onwards.
Anyway, you don’t have to be Mel Gibson to appreciate this fruit-bearing flowery shrub. The Victorians were mad for them, and created a whole host of different varieties, presumably in Frankenstein-esque labs as befits the era. They were also used in medicine for their sedative effects until around the late 70s when various administrations decided that it probably wasn’t safe. We suggest sticking to admiring their beautiful blooms in bouquet-form.
