A while ago I saw a picture my friend posted of a passion flower. Having just moved from New Mexico, I thought this flower was so unique and something that one would only see in the tropics. I was quite pleased to find out it's a common wildflower in North Carolina. I was also quite pleased to find out that I have several growing around my property.
Some interesting notes on the passionflower:
The species found in the southeastern US is Passiflora incarnata. This species is also known as maypop, wild apricot, or purple passionflower.
It produces a fruit about the size of a chicken egg. It is edible, but mostly benefits wildlife because of the abundance of seeds. The purple fruit produced by a different species is toxic.
P. incarnata leaves are used to make a tea that treats insomnia, epilepsy, and "hysteria". It also has painkilling and antidepressant properties and the dried leaves can be smoked.
Curiously, its name did not originate from the idea of love, but rather from its structures likened to the crucifixion of Christ on the cross. From Wikipedia: ...the radial filaments which can number more than a hundred and vary from flower to flower 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.
There you have it folks!
Wow, it's so beautiful it almost looks fake. I feel smarter for having read this. ;)
ReplyDeleteThat is really cool. I've heard of them before but have never seen one and didn't really know about the healing powers. I love always love hearing about natural medicine (or whatever it's called- it's past 3am and my brain is not working).
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