Friday, August 27, 2010

The Passion Flower


                 It is the time of the passion fruit.
And this is it's flower.




Upon looking up the passion flower,
I found out some interesting facts.




The "passion" in Passion flower does not refer to sex and love.
but rather to the passion of Jesus.

In the 15th century Spanish missionaries adopted the unique physical structure of this plant to the last days of Jesus.

The tendrils represent the whips in the flagellation of Christ.
The ten petals and sepals represent the ten faithful apostles.
The flower's radial filaments represent the crown of thorns.
The chalice-shaped ovary with it's receptacle represents the Holy Grail.
The 3 stigmas represent the 3 nails.
The 5 anthers represent the 5 wounds.
The blue and white colors represent Heaven and Purity.

Outside the Christian heartland, the flower has reminded people of a clock.
In Israel, it is the clock flower.
In Japan, the clock plant.
In Hawaii, it is called "liliko".  "li" is a string used for tying fabric together. 
                                                 "liko" means to spring forth leaves.

The sword-billed humming bird has co-evolved with the passion flower.
Or large bumble bees, wasps or bats can pollinate the flower.

There are over 500 species of the passion flower, and they are found on all continents except Antarctica.

(from the wonderful world of wikipedia)





Friday, August 6, 2010

almost three months


the first time he felt sand in between his toes.