Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Passifloraceae

This beautiful Passionflower vine is growing in the Butterfly House at the Calgary Zoo. It belongs to the Passifloraceae family.

These are such fascinating flowers! This particular vine is growing in the Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo. "Passion" does not refer to love, but to the Passion of Christ on the cross. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish Christian missionaries discovered this flower and adopted its unique physical structures as symbols of Crucifixion. For example: the 72 radial filaments (or corona) 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. The flower has been given names related to this symbolism throughout Europe since that time. In Spain, it is known as Espina de Cristo (Christ's Thorn). In Germany it was once known as Muttergottes-Schuzchen (Mother-of-God's Star). In Israel they are referred to as clock-flower (שעונית). In Japan, they are known as clock-faced flowers, and recently have become a symbol for homosexual youths. In North America they are also called the Maypop, the water lemon, and the wild apricot (after its fruit). Native Americans in the Tennessee area called it ocoee, and the Ocoee River and valley are named after it." From Wikipedia.

This is a Passionflower seen in the Butterfly House at the Calgary Zoo. I had seen lots of photos of Passionflowers by other people, but I had always pictured this flower being more like a Water Lily and huge. So, when I photographed this much smaller flower growing on a vine, I didn't realize it was the same thing. Such a strange looking flower! Really quite magical. This particular kind is called Lavender Lady.