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Nature at its best. (1 Viewer)

Pam_m

Well-known member
It certainly does merit a place here, Wendy! A superb flower and a very good photo of it!

I remember being told many years ago the shapes represent Christian symbols. I had forgotten them but found this on Wiki! Hope you find it interesting.

Etymology and names
Blue Passion Flower (Passiflora caerulea), showing most of the "Passion of Christ" characters.Popularly, passionflowers and especially passionfruit are frequently used with sexual or romantic innuendo, giving rise to such uses as a one-time soft drink named Purple Passion. The "Passion" in "passion flower" does not refer to sex and love however, but to the passion of Jesus Christ. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish Christian missionaries adopted the unique physical structures of this plant, particularly the numbers of its various flower parts, as symbols of the last days of Jesus Christ and especially the Crucifixion:

The pointed tips of the leaves were taken to represent the Holy Lance.
The tendrils represent the whips used in the Flagellation of Christ.
The ten petals and sepals represent the ten faithful apostles (less St. Peter the denier and Judas Iscariot the betrayer).
The flower's radial filaments, which can number more than a hundred and vary from flower to flower, 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 5 wounds (four by the nails and one by the lance).
The blue and white colors of many species' flowers represent Heaven and Purity.
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"). Old German names[12] are Christus-Krone ("Christ's Crown"), Christus-Strauss ("Christ's Bouquet"[13]), Dorn-Krone ("Crown of Thorns"), Jesus-Leiden ("Jesus' Passion"), Marter ("Passion"[14]) or Muttergottes-Stern ("Mother of God's Star"[15]).

Outside the Christian heartland, the regularly-shaped flowers have reminded people of the face of a clock; in Israel they are known as "clock-flower" (שעונית), and in Japan they are called tokeisō (時計草, "clock plant"). In Hawaiian, they are called lilikoʻi; lī is a string used for tying fabric together, such as a shoelace, and liko means "to spring forth leaves".[16]

In northern Peru and Bolivia, the banana passionfruits are known as tumbos. This is one possible source of the name of the Tumbes Region of Peru.
 

Wendy Morris

Well-known member
Thank you, Pam. I shall print that off and let my neighbour have a copy. I'm sure she will find it interesting, she's in to that sort of thing!
 

Peewit

Once a bird lover ... always a bird lover
That is a good idea, Wendy! It is an amazing flower when you look closely!

Hi Pam

Interesting facts about the Blue Passion Flower - thank you for sharing with us. :t:

Your picture is beautiful, Wendy! :t:

Regards
Kathy
x
 

Wendy Morris

Well-known member
Back to clouds.....we were driving back from the other side of the county this afternoon and the sky was full of these wonderful cirrus clouds, often referred to a Mare's Tails. OH was not inclined to stop for me to take pictures, so I had to wait patiently until we got home!
 

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Fozzybear

Ich bin ein Vogelbeobachter
Always good to see some crashing waves... when you're not on the receiving end. ;)

This is Exmoor, taken when I spent a week at Lynmouth a couple of years ago. The weather closed in as we crossed the moors and it was amazing, really cool.

Excuse the small size, too late in the evening to mess around with photoshop to resize it. There's a bigger image on flickr here. Photo page here.
 

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palval147

Well-known member
Dartmoor can be like that too Fozzy.
Got caught out in a thick mist one day, while riding, luckilly the horse I was on knew the way home.o:D
 

Wendy Morris

Well-known member
Beam me up Scottie!!!! Shafts of light on the Channel from above West Bexington this afternoon.
 

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Wendy Morris

Well-known member
Me again with more clouds. Spotted these as I drove home earlier this morning. Anyone who likes clear blue skies should look up sometimes and see what beautiful clouds there are up there.
 

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